


I Don't

by thanku4urlove



Series: I Do/I Don't-verse [2]
Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: (yes cliche as hell), Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Motorcycle-riding Takaki, One (1) tiny motor vehicle accident, Originally Posted on LiveJournal, Romance, Takaki is kinda a jerk but he gets over himself, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 10:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20794907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thanku4urlove/pseuds/thanku4urlove
Summary: Takaki Yuya could barely believe it. Just twenty-four years old, and he was already tied down to a single bedroom house and a tiny twenty year-old man named Chinen Yuri. He was sure, however, that this situation had to be temporary. There was no way he was going to stay married to some stranger his mother had forced him with.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion piece to I Do, told from Takaki's point of view. I kinda said everything I wanna say about in the author's not for that fic, and if you've made it this far, you probably already read that one. This fic can be a standalone multichap, but I envisioned them to be read together.

"What the hell am I going to do?" Takaki asked, rolling on to his side, cell phone digging into his cheek.

"Well, idiot, most people that find themselves in unhappy marriages either try to make it better, or file for a divorce." Hikaru responded, sounding nothing but tired and annoyed.

Takaki sighed. "Have you even been listening? There's no way I could get a divorce. I would get cut off for life, would have to get a job or something."

Hikaru snorted. "Oh, the horror."

"Plus, my mother spent an unbelievable amount of money on the dumb wedding. You'd think though, since she spent that much money, it would have been a bit more fun than it was."

"I bet the wedding was fun, and you would have seen that if you'd actually gotten up and moved around. And I bet you made poor Chinen sit at a table with you the whole time."

"He didn't have to."

"Well, do you think he wanted to?"

To that, Takaki didn't have an answer. He decided to ignore the question. "I can't just stay married though, that's ridiculous. Have I told you that my mother only put one bedroom, and one _bed_ in this dumb house?"

Hikaru asked a question away from the receiver, then laughed as he said "Apparently word went around at the wedding that Chinen is interested in dance; I bet he's pretty flexible."

Takaki could hear laughter in the background of the other line, doubtlessly Yabu.

"That was Yabu's comment, wasn't it? You two have been hanging out with Inoo too much." Takaki declared. "I'm sleeping on the couch."

"Please, just promise me that you're not going to ignore him, alright? All you've done is complain about yourself, but remember that you're not the only one that got married earlier today. You should get to know him--maybe this whole situation isn't as bad as you're making it up to be."

Takaki pursed his lips, pushing the muscles tightly together and burrowing his head a bit further into his pillow. Hikaru was right, and he knew that, but not thinking about Chinen was just so much easier.

"This place has a garage, want to have practice here this week?"

"Takaki." Hikaru wasn't being fooled into a change of subject.

"What?"

"Hikaru needs to get in bed and let me kiss his neck now, so if you guys could finish up this conversation in the morning, that would be great." It was Yabu's voice all of a sudden, a surprised muffled noise being heard from Hikaru in the background.

"Kota-!"

"You guys are gross, I'm hanging up." Laughing, Takaki didn't bother to wait for a response, ending the call and squinting at his bright phone screen. It was the early hours of the morning at this point, but Takaki's brain was moving way too fast for the possibility of sleep entering and slowing it down. He wondered if Chinen Yuri was also awake in the bedroom, or if he was asleep, comfortably swamped in the mess of pillows and blankets on the king-sized bed. Chinen was so small that he probably barely took up any room on it, honestly, and Takaki could imagine him curled up in the middle of the large cushy space.

Takaki wasn't sure how to handle him. At first glance Chinen was shy and quiet, but he had held himself so expertly at the wedding that Takaki wasn't so sure. He certainty hadn't been shy, rather confident in himself, and perhaps he had been quiet simply because Takaki hadn't talked either. Takaki himself had been as rude as he could in a last ditch attempt to get the wedding called off, but Chinen had been nothing but tolerant in return, putting Takaki in a terrible and guilty mood for the rest of the night. He wanted to at least apologize to him, but Chinen hadn't seemed like he was looking for an apology, so he'd kept his mouth shut.

Takaki rolled on to his back and sighed. Really, he didn't dislike Chinen, but the entire situation was bad, unwanted, and uncomfortable. It must be for Chinen too, he supposed, so it would just be better to keep to himself, and pretend that the ceremony that occurred earlier that day never happened.

It came as a big surprise when Takaki stumbled into the new kitchen the next morning, wanting to investigate the source of a crashing noise, and Chinen offered to make him breakfast, smiling at him from a pan of scrambled eggs cooking on the stove. The young man was dressed in a matching set of pajama pants and a button up long sleeve pajama shirt, both light blue with large white polka dots. His hair was sticking up in a few different directions, swept and spiking under the influence of a long held sleeping position.

"I don't eat breakfast." Takaki responded after a few moments. In truth, he was starving, but the idea of sitting with Chinen and eating, and _talking_, made nerves bubble in the pit of his stomach.

"Oh."

_ Oh_. So simple and disappointed. Turning, Takaki went to get dressed. He wasn't sure where his clothes had been unpacked, but the logical location was a closet, so he entered Chinen's bedroom. The bed was made, albeit clumsily, the only factor giving away the fact that it had been slept in. There were two closets, one on each wall, and Takaki was glad he opened his closet first. He grabbed a shirt and pair of pants, picking up his motorcycle helmet from the closet floor.

Feeling strange at the idea of changing in the younger man's bedroom Takaki went to the bathroom, greeted with the sickeningly cliché sight of two toothbrushes sharing a cup on the sink counter, handles crossing one another. He changed quickly. He was leaving, escaping to Inoo's or something. Anywhere but here.

"Where are you going?" Chinen asked from the kitchen. Since he didn't know he didn't answer, mounting his motorcycle and heading down the street faster that was probably legal or safe.

It hadn't really hit him that he and Chinen were living together. Sure, Chinen's belongings were there, and he was sleeping in a room down the hallway, but they would have to share the living space, stumble past each other in the mornings in pajamas with sleepy eyes, eat dinner together. Interact.

Inoo wasn't home, so Takaki went to the next place he figured his friend would be: Daiki's apartment. The two were nearly inseparable, and Inoo was so head-over-heels for the brown-haired young man that sometimes Daiki's utter obliviousness was nearly painful to watch. Daiki liked Inoo too, no matter how much he tried to deny it, saying repeatedly that they were just friends. Everyone around them knew though; "just friends" didn't look at each other like that. Daiki needed Inoo like a fish needed water, getting jealous and slinging a possessive arm over Inoo's shoulders when he talked to strangers. Takaki wanted to slap both of them.

Sure enough, Inoo was there, in the middle of feeding Daiki a bite full of rice when Takaki let himself in through the unlocked front door. Takaki took advantage of their surprise, stooping and eating the rice off of Inoo's chopsticks.

"Hello to you too." Inoo said after a few moments. Takaki waved, sitting down as he finished chewing.

"Morning."

"What are you doing here? Didn't your husband cook you a nice hot breakfast?" his friend asked, tone only half joking.

"Actually, he did, but I couldn't stay there. It's weird! What are you doing here?"  
"I stayed the night." Inoo responded crisply, taking the now empty food plates and placing them in the sink. It took a moment for the statement to settle in.

"Wait. Really? Did you guys finally hook up?"

"Don't be an idiot." Daiki cut him off, hitting Takaki on the back of the head. "Inoo wanted help with a keyboard part he was writing for one of Hikaru's new songs. It's great, by the way," Daiki added to Inoo, smiling at him, the older smiling in response, "you guys should practice today and add it in."

"Daiki..." Takaki put his elbows on the table, placing his cheeks on his fists and giving his friend a sad look. "Can you make me some breakfast?"

"Why do I have to do it?" Daiki protested, already getting up from his seat and walking into the kitchen. "Why didn't you eat at your own house?"

"We have to live together."

"And?"

"In the same house!"

"And?"

Takaki sighed, flopping forward on the table. "Why are you guys not freaking out? Are you not freaked out?"

"We are." Inoo said. "It's shocking and weird and unconventional. But Takaki, it could be so much worse. You could be married to an old pot bellied guy. Or a guy with a comb over and a greasy mustache. Or a woman!"

That garnered some laughs, Daiki setting a plate of food down in front of Takaki and a pair of chopsticks.

"But you're not, right? You're married to a cute guy that is super smart and obviously cares about you at least a little, because he made you some breakfast. And if he tries to pull anything weird, he's so short that you can just pick him up and put him on top of the fridge or something."

Takaki nodded a bit. He knew Inoo was right, but he didn't want to give in to his situation, to accept it just yet.

"Easy for you to say. Inoo, if you were to get an arranged marriage, you'd probably just end up marrying Daiki or something. He's rich."

"That's true." Daiki responded affirmatively.

"What?" Inoo looked up sharply.

"And then you guys can fall in love and raise rich children together. Perfect world."

"Inoo and I are not in love; I don't know why all of you guys keep saying that."

Inoo huffed ever so slightly, Takaki giving Daiki his best 'oh, please' look.

"We're just friends!"

"He was feeding you when I walked in this morning."

"Platonically."

"You two cuddle and sleep over at each other's houses all the time."

"Platonically."

"You're paying for his college classes!"

"As a good friend!" Daiki argued. Inoo sighed.

"Both of you shut up. It's almost noon; we're supposed to be at Yuto's in fifteen minutes."

Right, rehearsal today for an up-incoming gig. They began getting ready to go, Takaki sitting on the couch and watching as Inoo gathered his instrument accessories and Daiki threw a quick packed lunch together for him. After Daiki asking Inoo for the fourth time if he was sure he had remembered everything he needed (Takaki was ready to leave Inoo there at that point, tired of waiting) Takaki handed Inoo his helmet, making sure everything was secure and his best friend wasn't going to fall off the back of the bike before speeding off to Yuto's.

After they arrived, Takaki had barely opened his mouth before Hikaru had covered it with his hand.  
"If you complain about being married anymore, I just might cut your tongue out. Leave that at the door and just focus on practice, we have a gig this weekend."

"Woah, calm down." Takaki replied once he had licked Hikaru's hand enough times for the bass player to remove it. "I wasn't going to do that. Besides, you can't cut my tongue out. I'm the lead vocalist--you guys need me."

"Nah, we don't. Inoo, that Daiki of yours can sing, right?" Yabu piped up from the back of the room, adjusting a tuning knob on his guitar. Takaki opened his mouth in a mock shocked indignance, laughter coursing through the rest of the room.

"What's so funny?" Yuto asked, bounding down his basement steps on his long legs, taking them two at a time. "Oh, Inoo and Takaki, you're here!"

"Hey Yuto." Takaki smiled, Inoo reaching up to ruffle Yuto's hair. Yuto Nakajima was the youngest and newest member of their band, having been recruited immediately to fill in the group's dire need of a drummer. He was a full-time college student, which did have its drawbacks, but he was incredibly talented, had a spacious basement under his family's house, and a mother that made delicious snacks. He had fit in easily, hard working, excitable, and easy to talk to, nudging a small soft spot into all four of them.

"Are we ready to get started?" Hikaru asked. Hikaru loved to just jump into the music so they all nodded, Takaki getting his voice warmed up as Inoo set up his keyboard.

They ran through one song that they knew for sure they would be playing at the bar that weekend, then Hikaru handed out new music to them all, simple and waiting to be added on by each of them, turned into something personal and amazing.

"Wow Hikaru, I just finished working in my part for the idea you had last week." Inoo remarked, glancing over the new pages. "You're cranking these out."

"What can I say," Hikaru threw Yabu a glance, smile wide and eyes soft. "I'm inspired."

Yabu smiled back, teeth worrying his bottom lip, hand loosening around the neck of his guitar. Yuto cooed; Takaki sighed.

"Inoo, look at what you've done."

Usually, when Hikaru made eyes at Yabu during band practice they had to take a break, leave the room, and pretend that they didn't know the two were making out for at least a few minutes before returning. But this time Hikaru just smiled a bit more, then they began to play through the new piece, adding in whatever felt natural as they went along. By the time practice was over they had put together a set list and the new song was coming along nicely, ready for the gig at the end of the week. They went home in high spirits, thanking the Nakajimas for letting them use their space.

When Takaki got home, Chinen was already tucked away into his room. He showered, surprised to find a towel, fluffy and warm and fresh from the dryer, folded on the toilet seat. Did Chinen usually do things like this, and he'd just never noticed? Resolving that he would try to strike conversation at least once that week, Takaki curled up on the couch and drifted off.

Each time Chinen tried to engage him in conversation however, Takaki found his voice failing him. The idea of conversing with Chinen just made him so nervous, the fact that it was so much easier to be aloof and uncaring made him run from his spouse every time he opened his mouth and kick himself after, when he was speeding down the highway in search of somewhere to spend the day. The most he ended up saying to Chinen altogether was the night of their gig.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional warning for mentions/ingestion of alcohol

"I'm going to be out late, so, um... Don't wait up, or anything stupid like that."

Chinen just nodded, seemingly too immersed in his cell phone to respond. So Takaki shrugged and headed out to the bar. It wasn't a small venue but it wasn't too large either, and they had played there once or twice before, but weren't regulars. He met up with the rest of his band mates in a back storage room, where they were allowed to talk and warm up.

"Funny story, Takaki, last night I served a kid at my ramen stand that was in the same boat as you. Arranged marriage. Except he seemed to be handling the situation much better than you are." Hikaru said, plucking at a few of the strings on his bass.

"Everyone would handle the situation better than Takaki." Inoo piped up from the back. There was a collective nod, making Takaki huff.

"That's two arranged marriages in a week, are they becoming common now or something?" Yabu asked, thinking aloud.

"He looked like he went to the same dance studio as Daiki, and that place is expensive so I figured he was another rich guy. Maybe rich people are doing it." Hikaru added helpfully.

"I don't know, Keito has never mentioned anything about that to me." Yuto input, sounding doubtful, spinning one of his drumsticks between his fingers. "He's in a normal relationship with a normal guy, from what I can tell." Keito was Yuto's good friend that all of them had met only once, and honestly Takaki barely even remembered what he looked like--he had been so quiet the entire time, sitting in the back and watching them rehearse.

On that note, they were ushered out to perform, pushed past the soloist that had gone on before them. Takaki let a rush of nervous energy flow through him, lighting up his face as he brought the microphone to his lips. He loved to perform, despite how disdainful his parents had been about it. He loved the rush, the feeling of being up onstage with his best friends, all doing something together that they were passionate about; he loved the applause at the end, which just added to the satisfaction brewing in his stomach.

They exited the stage in high spirits, feeling quite good about how they had done, cheering and clapping each other on the back. Inoo did not even bother snarking out a 'get a room' comment as Yabu put a hand on the back of Hikaru's neck and Hikaru tugged Yabu's hips forward, letting them be lost in their own world as they collided.

"You sounded great tonight, Takaki!" Yuto said, voice bubbling with post-performance adrenaline. Setting modesty aside, Takaki had to agree, more than pleased with how all of them, himself included, had sounded.

"You weren't bad yourself, Yuto." Takaki smiled at how Yuto's face lit up at the compliment, helping his band mate gather his belongings. Once everyone's instruments were safely in their cases and set along a back wall, the five of them ventured out to the bar, accepting compliments and ordering drinks.

"Oh my god, Takaki, remember the first night we got drinks after a performance?"

Takaki did remember, cringing at the thought. "Let's not," he tried, but was overruled by Yuto asking

"Why? What happened?"

"Well, about a year before you came along Yuto," Hikaru leaned forward, launching into the story. "All of us had already hit legal age to drink the first time we performed here, so we decided to celebrate moving up to a larger venue. And Takaki here, while he could hold his liquor better than the rest of us, ended up drinking more than everyone else, too."

Takaki sighed. "Can we not tell this story? Please?"

"C'mon Takaki, it's not that bad." Yabu tried, but Takaki shook his head rapidly. Much to Yuto's amusement, Inoo picked up the story.

"Takaki wasn't feeling too good when we left, and as we were walking down the street he bumped into someone. This guy was kinda short but definitely ripped, wearing this tank top that was showing off all of his arm muscles and some of his back, which had this huge sunset-looking tattoo all over it."

"Tattoo?" Yuto echoed.

"Yup. Takaki had bumped into a yakuza. We thought he was going to die."

"What happened?"

"Takaki, well..." Yabu began to laugh, words almost hard to make out, "politely puked all over him."

Yuto let out an astonished laugh, Takaki sighing and putting his face in his hands.

"And, of course, the natural turn of events at that point would be Takaki getting his pretty little face bashed in, but the guy just gave us some tips on how to sober him up and walked off."

"Did you really puke on a gangster?" Yuto asked.

"Yeah, but... Well, Inoo has grinded on Yabu!" Takaki declared defensively. That statement was met with shrugs from everyone, even Hikaru.

"Seriously guys?"

"Whatever Takaki, you puked on a gangster." Inoo repeated, before giving Yabu a wink.

One drink turned into three, turned into more, Takaki barely noticing, too caught up in how happy he was, and how much fun he was having. By the time things were beginning to wind down both Inoo and Yuto had gone home, Hikaru and Yabu putting Takaki in a cab and telling the driver his address. When Takaki arrived home all that he could remember was slurring a few things out to Chinen and getting comfortable, going to sleep.

A loud noise pierced his subconscious, making Takaki jump up in shock. Cool air hit his chest and pain spiked in his head as he looked around blearily, trying to comprehend what was happening.

"Oh, you're awake!" chirped a voice that was much too loud and happy for hangover he had. It was Chinen, Takaki could tell without looking, standing behind the couch. Takaki was instantly made aware that he did not have anything on from the waist up, yet another thing wrong with this morning, grumbling out "God, who invented hangovers, where are my clothes..." before pulling his blanket up and over his head, stuffing his face in his pillow. He needed less sunlight in the room, less Chinen peering over the couch at him, and more coffee in his system.

"There's a glass of water and a few painkillers on the side table next to you, I figured you might need them." Chinen said after a moment. Chinen had figured he would need them? How much had he said to Chinen the night before? He barely remembered talking to the younger man, and hoped any of the undoubtedly dumb things that had come out of his mouth hadn't been too bad.

"Hungry?" Chinen asked, voice considerably farther away. And boy, was Takaki ever. Hadn't he told Chinen he didn't eat breakfast? Honestly, keeping up that lie didn't matter now.

"Will there be coffee?" Takaki asked back, sitting up and swallowing the medicine on the side table before looking around for his discarded shirt.

"Sure." Chinen responded.

Takaki found the lost clothing article, pulling it on quickly. Positively sure he looked like a train wreck, he tugged his fingers through his hair a few times before entering the kitchen. Chinen was already dressed for the day in white jeans and a faded pink t-shirt, spreading butter on toasted bread. He turned as Takaki walked over to the table, laughing at the way Takaki threw himself in the seat, burying his face in his arms.

"Shut up." Takaki grumbled back. It was much brighter in the kitchen, what with a huge open window on the wall behind the table. He had just felt the medicine kick in, headache just beginning to cease when Chinen declared "Food's ready!" and waltzed over with two plates in his hand.

Takaki groaned, pulling himself into a sitting position. "Do you have to speak so loudly?" He asked as Chinen set his food down in front of him.

Chinen said no and apologized, giggling as he did so. It was an endearing sound, and Takaki had to bite the inside of his lips to keep from smiling when he heard it. He looked across the table to see Chinen with his head down, eating, seemingly focused on his food. This wasn't like Chinen, messing with him and laughing. The only other type of interaction Takaki had with him had been nothing but awkward offhand statements and one word answers to questions, but now Chinen was flat-out teasing him about going out and getting drunk. It was a Chinen that Takaki knew how to interact with, and he felt himself relaxing into the situation.

"So, where were you last night that got you so hung over?" Chinen asked, keeping his eyes on his plate.

"We had a gig at a club." Takaki said after a moment. Time to hold conversation.

"We?" Chinen asked, sounding confused.

"The band." There he was again, with the one word answers. He was about to elaborate, at least a bit, when Chinen asked another question.

"How many people are in your band?"

"Well..." Takaki had to count on his fingers, thinking. Hikaru and Yabu, Inoo, Yuto, and himself. "We have a guitarist, bassist, pianist, drummer, and me. So five."

"What do you do?"

"I'm, uh, the singer." Takaki had always felt embarrassed about calling himself a member of a band, despite his inability to play an instrument. He knew having a vocalist was important, and he wasn't bad by any means, but he still felt inferior to the rest of his band mates.

"Really?" Chinen smiled. "I think that's cool."

Nobody, aside from his friends and a supportive audience had spoken positively about the band before, and he couldn't keep he smile off his face that time. Chinen met his eyes for a few moments before clearing his throat and asking

"So, are you any good?"

The question had a tone of cheekiness to it, making Takaki laugh.

"I can't answer that." He couldn't just give a personal opinion about himself without feeling stupid.

"Why not?" Chinen challenged.

"You should hear us sometime, and then tell me what you think. How does that sound?" It was a serious proposal, and Chinen seemed surprised by it, looking at Takaki for a few moments before standing up, placing his empty plate and glass in the sink.

"I bet you suck." Chinen said, tone light. That made Takaki laugh, earning him a smile as the younger man left the room.

So that was Chinen Yuri. Takaki felt dumb, really, about playing up how difficult it would be to talk to Chinen in his head. He was a normal, nice person, and suddenly all of the aspects of this arranged marriage, aside from the marriage part, didn't seem quite so terrible. Thinking back to what his friends had said--"You should get to know him", "it could be so much worse"--he realized that really, they had been right. Not that he was going to tell them that.

"Completely renovated?" Takaki echoed. It was Monday, over a week after their gig, one of the few days that they were all free thanks to the resumption of college courses. They were supposed to have practice in less than fifteen minutes from now; Takaki had been getting ready to go to Yuto's when his cell phone rang.

"Yeah." Yuto replied, sounding quite glum through the receiver. "My whole basement is going to be full of construction workers for at least a month, if not more." He sighed. "I've already called Inoo and Hikaru, and neither of them knows where we can hold practice now. Where did you guys go for practice before my basement?"

"Well, I still lived in my parents' house then, so it was held in the garage at my house..." Takaki trailed off, thinking. Then, "Wait! My garage!"

"...what?" Yuto asked after a few moments of silence across the line.

"Chinen started university today, we can rehearse in the garage at this house until he gets back."

"Perfect!" Yuto said happily. "If you want to call Inoo, I'll let Hikaru and Yabu know and we'll meet up there?"

"Sure." Takaki agreed, giving Yuto a farewell and hanging up. Within twenty minutes the whole band and Daiki were through his front door, giving themselves a tour of the house.

"This place is really cute." Inoo said, looking around the living room "I can't believe you never invited any of us over until now."

Takaki shrugged. None of them had asked.

"So, I'm thinking we'll go set up, and our wonderful host will get us drinks or something?" Hikaru said, a sort of mock pleasantness to his voice, and Takaki gave a joking exaggerated sigh back, pointing them to the direction of the garage door before heading into the kitchen.

It was weird to have his friends in his new house. The place was usually so empty and quiet, where Takaki ate and slept, but didn't do much else.

He tossed water bottles to everyone once he met up with them, not realizing until Daiki needed one and he was empty handed that he hadn't grabbed enough.

"Short groupies don't get free drinks." He said, much to Daiki's indignation. After a "Don't worry, we can share one," from Inoo, practice began.

This practice wasn't as serious as the other one had been because they didn't have anything upcoming on the schedule to prepare for. Though Takaki loved seriously making music, these jam sessions were fun too, and on most occasions Takaki ended up laughing until he cried. This time was no exception, collapsing to his knees and holding his face in his hands and just giggling, the rest of the band laughing behind him, and Daiki, who had been telling the hilarious story, unable to finish speaking.

Once Takaki could breathe again the story had been given up on, Daiki walking around and collecting all of the empty water bottles littered around.

"I'll put these inside, do any of you guys want anything?"

There was a chorus of "no"s, with Inoo sheepishly interjecting

"Actually..."

They all laughed again, Daiki saying "I know. You're hungry, I can tell. I'll raid Takaki's pantry."

Once the garage door was closed behind him, Yabu wiggled his eyebrows at Inoo, who sighed in response, resting his elbows on his keyboard with a discordant clash of notes.

"I want to grab his face, and... And just..."

"For the love of all that is holy, please just kiss him." Takaki said, Yuto giggling. "It'll make you feel better."

"It'll make _me_ feel better." Yabu said in agreement. "Do it."

"Do it!" Yuto agreed, exclamation punctuated by a cymbal crash.

"Do what?" Daiki asked, poking his head into the garage. When nobody answered, he continued talking. "It's actually getting pretty late, I think you all should wrap it up and we could just order some food, or something.”

It seemed like a fine idea, so they began to put their things away, carrying them inside and depositing them in the living room.

"When Chinen gets here though, you all need to leave." Takaki declared.

A mischievous grin grew on Inoo's face. "Why?" he asked, slinging an arm around Takaki's shoulders. "Can't wait to ravish him when he gets home?"

"Oooooh"s went around, Hikaru and Yabu making kissy faces. Takaki shoved Inoo off of him.

"Don't be weird. I just know you guys are going to embarrass me. Plus, all of you are stupid. The only person that can stay is Yuto."

Yuto gave a victorious whoop, and as soon as the living room couch came into view all five of his friends rushed at it, eager to claim a spot. Takaki sighed, acting as though he wouldn't have done the exact same thing if it was anyone else's house, pulling out his phone and asking

"So, what does everyone want?"

It took a while to come to an agreement, but as soon as they did and Takaki had placed the order, going into the kitchen in search of a pen, the front door opened. It was Chinen.

"Alright, now you guys really have to leave." Takaki declared.


	3. Chapter 3

Chinen looked quite surprised, as Takaki figured anyone would upon seeing a bunch of strangers in the living room, caught off guard as Chinen said

"Hikaru?"

Recognition crossed Hikaru's face in a flash.

"You're the guy from my ramen stand with the asshole husband!" He looked over at Takaki, pointing in an almost accusing manner. "You're the asshole husband?"

"I'm..." Takaki didn't even know how to answer the question, too baffled by the apparent fact that Chinen and Hikaru knew each other. "What?"

"Do you two know each other too?" Daiki asked. Chinen looked over to Daiki, giving him a smile and wave that held a surprising degree of familiarity.

"Too?" Takaki was reeling. Just how many of them had already met Chinen?

"I've met him as well, but I didn't know he was Chinen." Yabu said, as though answering Takaki's thoughts. "You're much too cute for this idiot, just so you know."

That made Chinen laugh, both Inoo and Yuto getting up and introducing themselves. Takaki needed an explanation.

"Takaki, is this the band?" Chinen asked him, looking over in question.

"He knows about us?" Hikaru was quite surprised. Takaki nodded.

"Since all of you apparently already know him, you can introduce yourselves." He said with a wave of his hand.

"Oh, don't be like that." Yabu gave Takaki a look. "I just met him when I stopped by Hikaru's ramen stand and he was there." Turning to Chinen, he explained "I play the guitar."

Hikaru gave his instrument too, turning to Takaki to say "And, Takaki, I met Chinen when he stopped by the ramen stand for dinner, and to complain about this dumb husband he has that never talks to him."

Takaki didn't want to hear it anymore. Yes, he had ignored Chinen, and he felt terrible about it. He'd been beating himself up over it since the morning after the gig; he didn't need Hikaru to grind his face in the dirt, no matter how much he deserved it.

"I met Chinen through Ryosuke, we all go to the same dance studio." There was always a glowering look on Inoo's face when Daiki mentioned his friend Yamada Ryosuke, someone Daiki had been quite close to since they were kids, and this time was no exception. "I don't play an instrument, but Inoo is on keyboard."

Chinen nodded at the statement. "Yeah, you've mentioned that."

That made Inoo brighten a little. Chinen pointed to Yuto, and once it had been confirmed that he played the drums, he gave them smiles and said "I would love to hear you all play sometime," glancing at Takaki. He looked worried, or shy, or something; he looked like he had the first week they began living together, and it made Takaki nervous. Did he not want so many people here?"

Inoo got up from where he had been sitting, grabbing Takaki's arm and pulling him into the kitchen.

"Inoo, what--"

"He likes you." Inoo declared, voice hushed.

Takaki had to pause and blink a few times. "What?"

"Did you see the way he glanced at you just now?"

"Yes. He's nervous. I think all of you should leave."

"And you care about him. This is so adorable."

Takaki sighed.

"I'm serious, though. He does like you, I can tell. You guys should start dating."

"We're already married, Inoo. I don't know what more you could want. Besides, I don't want to date him."

"You don't?" Inoo looked dumbstruck. "Takaki, do you not have eyes? Do you not see how cute he is?"

"I think you're just into shorter, younger guys." Takaki said with a wave of his hand. Inoo opened his mouth to protest, then, after a moment of consideration, shrugged.

"He's cute. Admit it."

Inoo wouldn't stop staring at him, so Takaki sighed. "Yes. He's very cute. He's really nice too. And sometimes he makes me laugh. Happy?"

Inoo grinned. "You two are going to fall in love. I know it."

"Whatever."

"Takaki is a little dumb." Was the first thing, unsurprisingly, that Takaki heard when he and Inoo reentered the living room. Inoo grinned, hurrying forward.

"Are we talking about Takaki being dumb?" He asked excitedly. "I have plenty of stories."

That made everyone laugh, and Takaki felt a little panicked. He and Inoo had been friends since the awkwardness of junior high school; Inoo did have plenty of stories.

"I will kick you out of this house. Physically."

Inoo gave him a look of mock fear, hiding behind Chinen's shoulders. Chinen laughed, and they all got comfortable in the living room, sitting on the couch or the floor.

"So, Daiki, if you're not in the band then why are you here?" Chinen asked, breaking the silence.

Everyone turned to Daiki for the answer, and Takaki realized that nobody really knew why Daiki was there, but he was, and they hadn't questioned it. Daiki came along with Inoo often enough that it wasn't out of place.

"Because I'm their only fan." Daiki glanced around at them with a shrug. "I didn't know I needed a reason."

"You don't." Hikaru shrugged back. He and Yabu were sitting incredibly close on the couch, one arm resting around Yabu's shoulders with his hand peeking inside the collar of Yabu's v-neck shirt.

"Guys, leave at least a little room for Jesus." Inoo ridiculed. But with his hipbones and shoulders touching Daiki's and their legs tangling on the floor, Takaki didn't think he had much space to talk. Confused, Yabu slowly lifted his hand from Hikaru's knee.

The doorbell rang, Yuto exclaiming "Food!" and jumping up first to answer it.

"Delivery..."

Takaki got up as well, pulling out his wallet. Once the food had all been paid for and Takaki had taken his food from Yuto, the taller man turned, looking slightly distressed.

"We didn't order anything for Chinen."

"We could all just share, or--"

"No, it's fine." Chinen cut Yabu off, already getting up to make his way into the kitchen. "I can--"

"Actually, I did order you something." Takaki remembered, putting a hand on Chinen's shoulder to stop him. Chinen turned, surprised.

"Really?"

"Well, I knew you'd be coming home, so..." All eyes were on him now, and it made him dip his head, feeling embarrassed. "I don't know what you like, so it's just chicken, but..."

Chinen was beaming at him. "That sounds great, thank you."

His sudden inability to breathe was due to the embarrassing fact that everyone was looking at him now, he was sure of it, grumbling "Shut up," at a smirking Inoo as he went into the kitchen for some eating utensils.

They were nearly finished with their food when Hikaru's cell phone rang, the man pulling it out of his pocket and sing-songing "Hello?" into the receiver.

"Yes, that's me." His tone shifted immediately, becoming serious, and all of them knew what that meant, Yuto nudging Takaki's arm excitedly. A gig.

"Yes, we are available... This Friday? Yes. We have been there once before. Of course! Thank you so much for your call." He was smiling when he hung up.

"Where are we playing?" Inoo asked. The answer was better than Takaki could have guessed; it was a rather nice establishment, and it wasn't uncommon for them to have better known, signed on celebrities to play for late night entertainment.

"Chinen should come." Daiki declared. That statement was met with approval, Yabu pointing his chopsticks at Chinen and asking

"You are legal, right?"

"Just because I'm short..." Chinen said, mock hurt in his voice. "Yes, yes I am."

"Awesome. We'll just tell them you're with us."

"Takaki, can your voice please _never_ do that again?" Hikaru asked, stopping in the middle of his bass solo to look at him. They were in the back of the venue, warming up for their performance.

"Just because I'm twenty-four doesn't mean I won't have voice cracks." Takaki replied in annoyance.

"Well on that long note, you'd better not."

"Don't be too hard on him Hikaru, he's just nervous because Chinen is going to be watching." Inoo said smugly.

"I will shove every one of those black keys up your nose." Takaki responded.

"I know Chinen is out there, that's why we decided on playing all of the songs that showcase Takaki's vocals. But if you're going to sound like a dying chicken, then..."

"I would say picture him naked, but I don't think that would help here." Yabu said with a laugh.

"Stop."

"You know, he's probably already heard you singing, like in the shower or something." Yuto said thoughtfully. Takaki's hands slipped from the microphone stand, falling to his sides. He'd never thought of that.

"Let's just run the section again." Hikaru said, Yuto beginning the count off. It went well, and it went even better onstage, Yabu reaching over to slap him a high five.

In truth, Takaki was nervous about Chinen being in the audience, and once his eyes caught the younger man's he had to look everywhere but at him in fear of messing up, catching a young woman's gaze and winking instead.

The audience was incredibly responsive, prompting them all to bow and smile when they finished, leaving the stage.

"That was incredible." Inoo said excitedly. "They loved us."

"I love us." Yuto declared. Yabu gave him a tight hug. Daiki ran in a second later, wrapping his arms around Inoo's waist and spinning him around, taking Inoo by surprise and causing him to laugh. Chinen was standing in the doorway, a young man that Takaki supposed was the infamous Yamada Ryosuke beside him.

Chinen was smiling, face completely lit up. "You guys really sounded fantastic," he declared to them all, and Takaki couldn't keep himself from smiling. They all began to put their instruments away, Takaki folding up his mic stand and putting his microphone in its case. He caught sight of Chinen approaching, anxious for what the younger man was intending to say.

"So, you don't suck."

Takaki had to laugh at that, tension melting completely under the smile Chinen was giving him. "Why thank you."

"Really though," Chinen grew serious for a moment, fumbling with his fingers "you all were great. You were great. Your voice is..." His face was a bit pink. "I like it."

"Oh, thanks." Takaki knew he was beaming like an idiot, but he couldn't help it. Chinen beamed back at him. Takaki didn't even notice his friends dancing stupidly around the room until Inoo grinned at him and bumped his hip into Chinen, causing the younger to stumble forward in Takaki's direction. Fear lurched in Takaki's stomach and he reached forward to catch his spouse. Mentally cursing Inoo's existence, Takaki met Chinen's hands so he would have something to brace himself against. Chinen was wide eyed, obviously surprised at being nearly pushed over.

"I've got you. You okay?"

Chinen didn't answer, just nodding and stepping back after a moment. Takaki raised an eyebrow, about to say something--he wasn't sure what--when Daiki stole Chinen's attention.

"Hey, don't we have to leave, or something?"

And apparently they did, because realization dawned on Chinen's face and he called out Yamada's name. The friend was sitting on Yuto's drummer stool and holding his drumsticks, Yuto moving his arms to air stick what Takaki recognized as one of their oldest songs, Kumo no Ito. The drum part wasn't difficult, and the both of them were laughing. Chinen walked over to his friend, and Inoo sidled up.

"That wasn't funny; you almost knocked him over."

"And you caught him." Inoo looked much too pleased, bumping Takaki's hip with his own.

"Of course I did, I'm not _that_ mean." Takaki grumbled.

"You guys were basically holding hands."

"Inoo, you're acting like one of those types of fans we have that think that Hikaru and Yabu make out in closets during rehearsals."

"Hikaru and Yabu do make out in closets during rehearsals." Inoo countered, invalidating his point.

"I'm not going to like him. We live together, it would be weird."

"You're married, and it would be weird if you liked him?" Inoo wasn't backing down, eyebrows raised in his direction. Takaki sighed, about to retort, not needing to when Daiki poked his head inside and said "I'm taking the young ones home, bye," and Inoo rushed over to hug him farewell. Chinen and Yamada were already gone.

Yuto, though, was lying on the floor, cell phone pressed to his chest, eyes blissfully closed.

"What's up?" Yabu asked, he and Hikaru walking over curiously. Takaki approached too, reaching the younger man just in time to hear him say,

"I'm falling in love."

"Right now?" Hikaru asked, sounding almost concerned.

"Did you see him? I haven't seen him since I was eight, or nine, or something, and now..."

"Who are we talking about?" Inoo asked. Takaki was wondering the same thing.

"Yamada! We were friends when we were kids, next door neighbors, and then he moved away. I can't believe he remembered me. He grew up so much, he's..." Yuto trailed off, and the rest of them just stared at him for a few moments.

"I wouldn't get too excited, Daiki is driving him home." Takaki said dryly. Daiki was notorious for having a lead foot and taking turns precariously quickly, even nearly hitting a policeman once, causing them to miss a gig. That event was something their friend was never living down.

Yuto realized what Takaki meant, sitting up fast and tapping at his phone.

"Let's finish cleaning up in here." Hikaru suggested. The idea was taken up quickly, most of the packing up done by Inoo, who hadn't even begun yet. Takaki went over to help him, saying,

"Looks like you don't need to worry about Daiki being taken away by this Yamada Ryosuke anymore."

"I was never worried." Inoo lied. "Just..."

"Insanely jealous?" Takaki supplied, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, maybe a little."

They went out into the club, deciding against having drinks in favor of dancing. It was a lot of fun, and by the time they were too tired to continue it was much later than Takaki would have guessed. They decided going home would be good when a tipsy Inoo pulled out his cell phone, deciding it was time to call Daiki--Takaki wasn't going to stop him but Yuto did, taking Inoo's phone into custody and saying he would return it tomorrow.

"How did Chinen like us?" Hikaru asked as they set out into the night.

"He said we were really great." Takaki answered after a moment of thought. "He said he liked my voice."

"Awww." Yabu cooed, bumping Takaki's shoulder. They reached their respective vehicles, and after saying farewell and leaving Inoo with Yuto, they headed separate ways.

When Takaki arrived home, the light in the kitchen was on, but it was empty of people, with just a glass of water and painkillers on the table beside the note, "In case you need it." That made Takaki laugh, and he put the medicine away, taking the water with him to the couch. He kicked off his jeans, deciding that he would shower in the morning and easily drifting off.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional warning for Chinen (possibly, depends on your point of view) cheating at Mario Kart

Takaki found that not only was Chinen easier to talk to, he also quite enjoyed their conversations. Chinen could be quite funny, and his sharp tongue didn't match his face, but was amusing. When Chinen wasn't home Takaki didn't really hang around in the house, it was too empty and quiet and weird. Not that much was different when Chinen was home sometimes; he would eat dinner and then retreat into his room to study. Takaki spent his time playing video games because really, besides household chores, there wasn't much else to do.

Having the group rehearse in Takaki's garage began to feel comfortable. They were there at least twice a week, sometimes more, sometimes doing more talking and hanging around than actually practicing. Chinen would occasionally come into the garage, sitting on the steps and listening, as well as getting to know the rest of the band. They were asked to play as regulars at a bar on Saturday nights, which was exciting. However, Yabu ended up somehow catching a bad cold, leaving them at a loss for both a guitarist for a week and for an idea of what to do.

"Keito plays guitar, I could ask him to play for us." Yuto supplied after they heard the news. "He doesn't really learn fast, but I'm sure he could catch on. He works really hard."

Without any other options, they agreed, and Keito stopped by for practice later that week. Takaki was surprised by Keito's skill level, but he found out that he'd been playing his guitar as long as Yuto--or as Keito would call him when he thought nobody was noticing, Yuto_rin_\--had been on the drums. He was very nice, really only speaking when spoken to, and tripping over the cord that connected Inoo's keyboard to the wall at least three times. But all of it was quite endearing, and Keito thanked Takaki for his hospitality. The gig went well, Takaki slapping Keito a high five after the performance, Yuto giving him a hug, and Hikaru slinging his arm over his shoulder. Keito ended up going home soon after with his boyfriend, Ryu-something, Hikaru leaving to care for Yabu. Takaki, Yuto, and Inoo stayed, sitting in a quieter corner and chatting.

Chinen didn't go to that gig, or really many others because of how busy school made him. He spent a lot of time in his room, so Takaki began combating the silence by making use of his stereo, playing music as he laid on the couch or the floor, texting a few friends and trying to decide on some sort of hobby. One night Chinen burst from the bedroom, stalking over and ripping the stereo cord from the wall.

Takaki looked up from his phone, sitting up. "Chinen, what...?"

Chinen didn't look good. He looked tired, angry, and maybe even on the verge of tears. Takaki didn't like it one bit.

"It's..." Instead of giving an explanation, Chinen turned around, seemingly ready to go back to his room. But Takaki wanted to do something about the expression on the younger man's face, jumping up from the floor and placing his hand on Chinen's shoulder. Chinen did not look amused as he turned around.

"What's wrong?"

To his surprise, Chinen responded immediately, unrestrained stress in his voice.

"Math. Math is dumb, and I don't understand it, and I can't even concentrate with you playing your dumb music in the next room. I have exams coming up and I need to study, but I'm tired because I have a dance recital. It's Saturday, and Thursday--tomorrow--is the dress rehearsal. We've been practicing so much for it, but I have this feeling that something is going to go wrong."

Takaki wanted to do so many things--apologize for the music, he hadn't known it was a bother; tell him that he would do fine on his tests, tell him that the dance recital would go great--but Chinen wasn't finished, just pausing for air.

"And on top of that we're finally getting to know each other, and my crush on you is getting serious, which is something I just _don't _need right now."

The emphasized word sounded almost venomous, but that wasn't the part that caught Takaki's attention.

"And none of the dishes are even clean! I went to go get a glass of water earlier, and there wasn't a single cup..." He trailed off, putting his face in his hands. This hadn't been what Takaki had expected to hear, simply looking at Chinen, trying to take the information in. Then he said the only solution that came to mind.

"You need to relax."

The exasperated look Chinen threw him nearly made him take a step back.

"I don't have time to relax! You don't understand."

"No, you don't understand." Sure, dance recitals and tests and crushes and the status of the dishes in the kitchen were all important, but not important enough to get this worked up about. "You have a dance recital this Saturday, right? It's not going to get much better between now and then, aside from a few finishing touches--the level that your performance is at today is about how it's going to be then, which I'm sure is great."

Chinen crossed his arms over his chest. Takaki continued.

"Then you have a whole week to prepare for your tests, which I know you'll pass with flying colors, because you're incredibly intelligent. But right now, you need to take a breath and stop stressing."

Chinen narrowed his eyebrows. "Should I really be taking advice from a high school dropout?"

Takaki had to laugh at that. "Just sit back for an hour, or something." He could tell Chinen wasn't buying it, so he tacked on "Please?"

Chinen considered it for a moment.

"And do what?" He asked.

Takaki hadn't really thought about that, searching his mind for something to do. "Try to beat me at a video game."

He could almost see the gears in Chinen's brain working. Then, he sighed.

"Fine."

Takaki beamed at the success, going over to the console to find a game that Chinen could play. From what he could tell, Chinen didn't play video games much, so he decided on Mario Kart. Everybody could play Mario Kart.

They established their characters and vehicles in silence, and as the race started Takaki grinned, saying

"Good luck."

"Right back at you."

That response and the confidence in it surprised him, but he didn't have much time to ponder it because Chinen's Baby Mario was completely kicking his Toad's ass. Takaki threw a red shell and Chinen elbowed him, hard, making him yelp and elbow back. Finally, Chinen passed the finish line in first place, throwing his arms in the air.

"I win."

Takaki was baffled. "I didn't know you could... I’ve never seen you play before, I'm surprised."

"I have a friend that's crazy about video games." Chinen explained. "It's impossible to have grown up with him and not know a few tricks. In fact, you two might get along pretty well."

Takaki didn't quite think so. If this guy was Chinen's best friend, and Chinen had told him about all that had happened, then this friend would have an extremely valid reason to bash his face in, or at least really dislike him.

"I guess we could see, if I meet him."

"When." Chinen corrected his "if" statement. "Maybe he could come over this weekend."

That was a scary thought. Takaki pointed to the television screen, saying,

"From what I understand, you just beat me, and I demand a rematch."

"Fine." Chinen shrugged, grinning. "As long as you're okay with losing."

Takaki raised his eyebrow at the cockiness in the statement. Chinen raised his eyebrow back. That made Takaki laugh, and they started the race.

Chinen beat him again.

"I'm going to win the next one." Takaki declared as soon as his bike passed the finish line.

"If you're sure." Chinen responded with a laugh.

This time though, Takaki did win, and he couldn't keep himself from celebrating. Chinen gave him a frustrated expression that Takaki knew wasn't genuine, and Takaki stuck his tongue out at him. Chinen did the same in return.

"Best three out of five?" Takaki offered when they were finished acting like children. They still had close to an hour to kill, so Chinen agreed. It was nice to play with someone that wasn't easy to beat. Both Yabu and Hikaru were completely terrible at the game, Daiki claimed not to like it, and Inoo was so afraid of falling into water or getting into a car crash that he didn't drive very fast at all. But Chinen was vicious, with both the amount of shells and elbows that he threw Takaki's way. Takaki ended up with more points, Chinen very close behind.

"Feeling better?" He asked when the tournament was over. Chinen was smiling, which Takaki took as a good sign, the thought confirmed by a nod.

"Thank you."

Takaki waved it off. "Being a bad influence and distracting you from school work is my job. Speaking of which, are you going to go back and study now?"  
Chinen sighed. "Maybe. Maybe not."

"Alright. You make up your mind, I'm going to go do the dishes."

"Then I'll go study." Chinen smiled again, a smile that was completely genuine, before heading back to his room. Takaki headed to the kitchen, pulling out his phone as he went and dialing Yabu's number.

"I was sleeping, what do you want?" He sounded groggy and stuffy, obviously still recovering from his cold.

"I have two questions. One: how do you work a dishwasher, and two: Chinen said he likes me, what do I do?"

"One: put the dishes in and the soap in and press start, and two: you're going to have to give me more details." Yabu responded without skipping a beat.

"Well," Takaki began, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder and opening the dishwasher. "He's really stressed out about school."

"He and I both." Yabu interjected.

"And he has a dance recital coming up as well--"

"Oh, when is that? We should go."

"Saturday at 6:15. Can I talk, please?"

Yabu fell silent, so Takaki continued.

"Anyway, about an hour ago he stormed into the living room and unplugged my stereo--"

"It isn't like your music taste is spectacular." Yabu cut in dryly.

"Yabu, your music taste is limited to songs that Hikaru has written, so you don't have much room to talk." Takaki said flatly. "Would you let me finish?"

Yabu made a disgruntled noise.

"So I asked what was wrong, and turns out his crush on me is getting serious."

"He turned off your stereo because he likes you?"

"No, he turned off my stereo because he was trying to study."

"I don't understand."

"It isn't important! Just... He told me that he likes me, and I don't know what I should do about it."

"Well." Yabu began after a moment. "We already knew he liked you, so this isn't exactly news."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. Since the first time we rehearsed at your house. He told us."

"He told you guys?" That was a while ago.

"So, Takaki, you have two options." Yabu set the phone down to cough for a few moments. "You can either take the recommended plan and go out with him, or turn him down and face the inevitable awkwardness that will settle every time you're in a room together."

Takaki wasn't content with either of those options. "The thing is, he said it quickly and in passing, and he didn't really react to saying it, so I don't know if he even noticed."

"You think he didn't notice."

"We just played Mario Kart for an hour, and there was no inevitable awkwardness."

"Hm." Yabu thought for a moment. "Maybe he didn't, then. You could just not do anything, and see what happens, if you want."

Do nothing. That was something that Takaki was capable of.

"I like that idea best."

Yabu sighed. "Of course you do. Now, can I go back to sleep? It's late."

It was later than Takaki thought it was, less than ten minutes until midnight.

"Sure. Good night, feel better."

"Thanks. Bye." Yabu hung up with a click, and, humming to himself, Takaki finished the dishes. Actually starting the machine was an interesting experience. It made beeping noises, and there were so many settings--Takaki didn't know there were that many different ways to wash plates and cups and silverware.

Done with that, Takaki headed to the bedroom to grab something to sleep in. Chinen appeared to be asleep, laying on his side with the comforter pulled up to his chin, eyes closed. Smiling a bit because honestly, that was cute, Takaki crept in as quietly as possible.

"Goodnight." Came a sleepy murmur from the bed as Takaki turned to go.

"Night." Takaki responded, closing the door softly behind him as he left.

The next day ended up being much busier than Takaki had anticipated, partially because what he was anticipating doing was absolutely nothing. Instead, early the next morning, his mother called. They hadn't spoken since the wedding, and it took Takaki a few moments to recognize the number that was calling him at seven-thirty AM.

"Hello?"

"I'd like to speak to you. Could you come by my office this morning?"

"...I guess so." He wasn't really mad at her anymore, and didn't have anything to use as an excuse.

"Excellent. I'll be expecting you an hour from now, in my office."

"Okay."

Without a farewell his mother hung up, causing Takaki to give his cell phone a disgruntled look. That had been strange, vague, and abrupt. He didn't have much time to waste, getting dressed and eating quickly, shouting a farewell through the house before jumping on his motorcycle and heading off. He honestly had no idea what this meeting could be about.

The receptionist barely looked at him as he entered, simply pointing to his mother's office. He had known this receptionist for three years, and every time he had seen her she was in a bad mood. But he thanked her anyway, turning in to his mother's office.

"Hello! How are you?" She smiled as he entered, looking up from her desk.

"Fine, actually." Takaki answered as he sat down.

She seemed surprised by the answer, nodding to herself.

"So, what is this about?"

"Your father and I have been thinking." She began. That wasn't a good sign. Last time Takaki's parents had "been thinking", he'd had to get married.

"The issue is, you were so opposed to the whole marriage idea, and we fought so much over it, and I've been told that you spend great deal of time out of the house and away from Chinen."

Takaki nodded a bit. He and his parents had done a great deal of fighting after the arranged marriage had been decided, engaged in shouting matches all the way across the house, Takaki spending more time at Inoo's or Hikaru's than his own room. Right now though, he had no idea what his mother was trying to get at.

"And while the union was extremely beneficial to Chinen's family's business, all we are receiving from it is highly discounted furniture, which our company could survive without."

Without?

"Wait..." Takaki began, starting to understand what his mother was saying.

"Your father and I have agreed that we would rather cut off a business deal and have you think fondly of us than making you so unhappy."

He was being offered a divorce. More surprising, though, was that Takaki found he wasn't jumping at the proposition. Divorce was all he had been able to talk about for weeks after getting married, but the idea of it seemed slightly drastic now. He had more or less forgotten that Chinen was his husband; Chinen was a roommate and, maybe, his friend. All things considered, he didn't want to be married, but was it worth all of the required fuss, and hurting Chinen's company?

"I have to say, this wasn't the response I was expecting." His mother said, breaking the silence. "I thought you would be excited by the opportunity."

"I don't want to be married anymore, of course, except..."

"Except?" She echoed.

"No! Yes. I..." Takaki sighed. His mother looked confused.

"I'll give you some time to think it over. How does that sound?"

"Okay." Takaki stood, tucking his motorcycle helmet under his arm. "Thank you."

"Of course." She stood too, and after farewells Takaki left, shoving his helmet on and swinging his leg over his bike. He definitely needed to think, the most pressing thought now being why he was hesitating. No part of him wanted to be married, not to anyone. But divorce sounded so final, like he was cutting Chinen out of his life permanently.


	5. Chapter 5

Before Takaki knew it he was on the way to Hikaru and Yabu's apartment, so he went all the way there, parking and heading to the right apartment number. He knocked on the door; it was opened a few seconds later by Hikaru, who had his bangs clipped up, an apron and oven mitts on, pot of soup in his hands.

"Who is it?" Came a croaky call from further back in the house. Yabu.

"Takaki." Hikaru reported. He stepped back, letting Takaki in and asking,

"What's up?"

"I have a problem." Takaki reported. "It's my mom."

Hikaru groaned. "Are you getting married again, or something?"

They walked into Hikaru and Yabu's bedroom, where Yabu was sitting, looking a bit tired and drained but not too terribly sick, propped up with pillows. Hikaru handed over the soup and eating utensils, checking his forehead as Takaki elaborated.

"The opposite, actually."

That made both of them pause and look at him.

"A divorce?" Yabu finally asked. Takaki nodded.

"My mother called me this morning, and offered it to me."

"Congratulations." Hikaru said after a few quiet moments.

"I didn't take it." Takaki said with a shake of his head. "I don't know why, but... She said that she would give me some time to think it over."

"Wait." Yabu sat up a little straighter. "Are you getting divorced, or not?"

"I don't know." Takaki whined, drawing the last word out as he flopped over the length of the foot of the bed. "I don't want to be married, of course, that hasn't changed, but Chinen and I are friends, right? I would like to stay friends with him, but if we got a divorce he'd probably be really unhappy with me. Besides, the deal helped his family's company a lot, and if I took that away from him..."

"I can see why you're conflicted." Hikaru said with a nod. "This is really a choice of what you would rather live with."

"I live with Chinen." Takaki deadpanned, raising an eyebrow in Hikaru's direction.

"No, like would you rather live with staying married, or live with knowing you hurt Chinen's family's company." Yabu clarified. "I'm astounded that you're even having this problem, honestly."

Takaki narrowed his eyes. "I feel like that was an insult."

"No, it's just that divorce was all you could talk about a few months ago, and now, you're..." Yabu gestured to Takaki sprawled form.

Now that Takaki considered it, Yabu had a point.

"You're supposed to be helping, not confusing me more." He protested. "Stop it."

Yabu slurped some soup in response.

"I don't think we can help you on this one." Hikaru declared. "This is something you'll have to figure out yourself."

Takaki groaned. Somehow, he had already known that, he just didn't want to admit it. Not really wanting to infringe or contract illness, Takaki thanked them and trudged home. The house was empty--Chinen was at dance rehearsal, right--so Takaki flopped on the couch, deciding he had a lot of thinking to do. That resolution didn't stick, and instead he found himself turning in the TV, flipping through channels and waiting for Chinen to get home.

They all followed in after Hikaru, scooting down the aisle to an area with five empty seats next to each other. They were in the performance hall, ready to watch the dance recital. Inoo was on Takaki's right, bouquet of pink and yellow flowers in his hands, looking a bit nervous. Yuto was on Takaki's left, on the end, so engrossed in his cell phone that he bumped into Takaki when the older man stopped walking.

"Who are you texting?" Takaki had to ask. He realized he already knew the answer as soon as it came out of Yuto's mouth.

"Ryosuke. He didn't know I was coming." Yuto grinned. "He says that now I've made him nervous. Nervous is good, right?"

"If it's an 'I've got butterflies in stomach' kind of nervous, then yes. If it's a 'feel like I'm going to get killed' nervous or an 'I just might vomit' nervous, then maybe not so much."

"Did someone say 'just might vomit' nervous?" Inoo asked, leaning over. "Because..."

"Yeah, Inoo, what's wrong with you?" Takaki asked. His friend did look a bit green and twitchy. "This is a dance recital, not a prostate exam."

Yuto snorted into his cell phone, both Yabu and Hikaru leaning to hush them.

"What?" Takaki asked indignantly.

"It's starting!" Yabu hissed. Sure enough, the curtain opened a few moments later, and Takaki slumped back in his seat. The last time he had been to any dance related function was back in his young teenage years, when his parents still cared about him being well rounded and sophisticated. It had been the ballet The Nutcracker, and not only had he been forced to sit next to a feathery old lady that smelled too strongly of cheese, he found it so boring that he had slept through nearly half of it.

Though this recital wasn't all ballet, a bit of hip hop and tap thrown in, it still wasn't enough to keep Takaki fully focused on the production. He was not in any way a good dancer--he didn't know what to do with his limbs and felt awkward, so it was hard for him to fully appreciate watching the art.

Yuto poked Takaki's side with his elbow, nudging him from a daze. There was a tap dancer on stage, bowing and tipping his bowler hat before clacking away.

"I used to be able to do that." He whispered.

"Seriously?" Takaki whispered back. When Yuto nodded, it was hard to suppress the giggles at the mental image of little Yuto, clickity-clacking around in a button up shirt and bow tie.

The recital hall fell silent, a single white spotlight drenching the stage. Takaki let his eyelids droop slightly, jumping awake when Inoo elbowed him, hard.

"Would you guys quit--"

"It's Chinen!" Inoo hissed, pointing.

It _was_ Chinen, walking slowly to the center of the stage. He had on gray tights and a purple dress shirt, baggy sleeves flouncing as he extended one arm above his head and the other at his side, one leg behind him. He froze in that position, face serious but calm, waiting.

As soon as the first few piano notes started he began to move, sweeping himself into a bunch of spins on the ball of his foot. Though the song wasn't slow the dance was still incredibly graceful, Chinen able to land, leap, and move his body with precision and ease. Takaki couldn't look away, amazed, partially wondering how Chinen could move like that, partially wondering why he had never noticed how lean yet muscular Chinen's body was. It was quite nice, really, somehow matching his lean, cute face. This serious performer was a side of Chinen Takaki had never seen, and when added to all of the other faces of the young man Takaki had been introduced to, it gave him a clearer image of him. Takaki realized that not only did he like what he had learned about Chinen, but he wanted to know more, much more, about the breathtaking person under the stage spotlight.

The recital hall applauded as Chinen finished his performance, and the young man beamed and bowed, making Takaki smile.

Another hour and a half of well performed dance routines later, Yamada and Daiki came onstage together, arms hooked at the elbows. Takaki slid further into his seat with a sigh; he was surrounded by smiling idiots.

Once Yamada and Daiki began dancing, Takaki sat up straighter. Their dance was sharp and explosive, captivating in a different way than Chinen's had been, but captivating nonetheless. There had been a number of hip hop routines already, and the ones that Takaki had paid attention to had been done by talented dancers, but this one held a higher level of performance quality. Inoo took in a sharp breath next to him.

Instead of clapping at the end, Yuto let out a loud, explosive cheer. Hikaru's head whipped around, maybe about to scold him for inappropriate dance recital behavior, but less than a second later the event was declared as over.

Inoo seemed a bit dazed, still staring at the stage after the curtain had closed and the lights came on. Takaki shook his shoulder, laughing a little, and Inoo shook himself out of it, standing and holding his bouquet tighter. They all stood with him, looking around in the crowd for their dancer friends, giving occasional appreciative comments.

Daiki and Yamada approached, weaving through all the proud parents and friends, smiling. Takaki was about to open his mouth and ask where Chinen was, but he was cut off before he could even begin by Inoo shouting out Daiki's name and rushing at him. Daiki laughed, opening his arms and letting Inoo in to them.

"You were so cool up there!" Inoo exclaimed, sounding ecstatic, head pulled back from the hug to look at Daiki, body still pressed close. He pouted. "You didn't tell me you were that awesome."

"I..."

"Oh!" Inoo pulled away from the hug completely, brandishing the bouquet in Daiki's face. "These are for you."

Daiki took the bouquet slowly, still smiling. "You didn't have to."

"I know." Inoo responded simply. With Daiki and Inoo being cute, Yuto's arm slung around Yamada's shoulders, the two talking, and Yabu failing at being discrete about holding Hikaru's hand in public, Takaki felt quite out of place. But one conversation soon spread to all of them, everyone involved by the time Chinen walked up. He must have been caught up by someone he knew, judging by the bouquet of flowers in his hands.

"Chinen!" Yabu exclaimed, announcing his arrival, making the rest of the group turn and greet him.

"You were so good!" Yuto exclaimed, extending the second to last word as he said it. There were noises of agreement, Takaki waiting until conversation broke apart to compliment Chinen himself, as not to feel embarrassed. Finally he was able to, tapping the younger man on the shoulder.

"I don't really like ballet-type things, I guess." Takaki began truthfully. Chinen looked slightly vandalized, so Takaki continued quickly. "But you were really incredible."

A light flush spread across Chinen's face on his words, tinting his cheeks pink, and it made Takaki grin.

"Thank you." Chinen said grudgingly, noticing Takaki's smirk. "And shut up."

Takaki was about to retort when Inoo spoke up, voice so strained and odd-sounding that it cut off all conversation.

"Hey, Daiki?"

Daiki turned immediately away from Hikaru, asking "What is it? You okay?"

"Can we... Go talk somewhere?"

As soon as Daiki nodded to Inoo's request and the two began to leave, Takaki felt Chinen grab at his shirtsleeve, murmuring

"Oh my god."

"What?"

Chinen beckoned Takaki down with a finger, then whispered in his ear.

"I think Inoo is confessing." Takaki's eyebrows jumped up. "He was talking about doing it..."

"Seriously?" Takaki couldn't keep his voice down, too surprised by what Chinen was suggesting to him. Inoo? Confessing to Daiki? Impossible.

Hikaru was looking at them both, confused.

"What was that about?"

"We have reason to believe that Inoo is confessing to Daiki. Right now." Takaki explained, and their reactions were similar to his own. Open mouths, disbelieving looks.

"Now?"

"We have to follow them!" Walking after Yuto, who had looped his arm around Yamada's own, they all went outside after the two. Most of them stopped at the corner of the building, peeking around, but Chinen crept forward and crouched behind a bush, so Takaki followed. The bush was closer. Better seating.

"What's up?" Daiki was asking. So this was why Inoo was so nervous as the recital was starting. Takaki wondered if Inoo would have told him he was doing this if Yabu hadn't had interrupted earlier, before the recital began.

"I'm...well, I wanted to tell you something."

Daiki raised his eyebrows at Inoo's repetitive and lacking explanation. "Is it something bad? Because you're sort of acting like someone died."

"Not quite." Inoo laughed, then looked at his feet, growing serious. It was happening. Inoo was gearing up to confess. Takaki let out a breath.

"This is finally happening. Never, in my twenty-four years of existence, could I have imagined Inoo getting up enough courage to--"

"It hasn't happened yet." Chinen snapped in a quiet voice, not moving his eyes from the two in front of them. "Hush."

"I wrote down what I was going to tell you, but now you're right in front of me, and... I forgot it." Inoo wrote down his confession? Takaki was suddenly grateful that Inoo wasn't holding the paper he'd written it on, reading through it like a script.

"Did you have a message for me or something?" Daiki asked, trying to be helpful. "Could we find the paper you wrote on?"

Poor Daiki didn't understand what Inoo was trying to do. Takaki sighed. "This isn't going well. Should we do something?"

"It's nothing like that, it's just..." Inoo let out a long breath. "Ah, damn it. I'll just say it."

There was a long pause, Takaki nearly positive that Inoo would chicken out, but then he started talking.

"Ever since I met you, really, I've known that I thought you were cute, and I wanted to hug you. That turned into wanting to kiss you, and now I want to hold your hand and go on dates with you, and fight with you, and everything. With you. I really, really like you Daiki."

That wasn't the confession Takaki expected--he expected something short and quick and simple, and while Inoo had spoken quickly, he had said a lot. All of it was true. Takaki had been with Inoo through every step of his growing crush, through all of Inoo's hours of endless talking about how adorable Daiki was, through all of Inoo's almost-confessions and whines about whether or not Daiki actually liked him, through all of Inoo's imagined scenarios of what would happen if he just gave in and kissed Daiki randomly. Takaki held his breath, waiting for Daiki to speak.

Inoo was holding his breath too, apparently, because he let out a large gust of air and said nervously,

"Could you say something?"

"Right." Daiki stuttered the word out, looking like he was trying to gather his thoughts. "I just..." Trailing off, he laughed and said "I didn't know."

That was a surprise.

"Really?" Inoo echoed Takaki's thoughts. "I thought I was painfully obvious."

Daiki nodded. "Was all that the stuff you'd written down?"

"More or less."

They fell quiet, Takaki wondering if that was it, if they were done. Then Daiki looked up at Inoo under his bangs, a slight smile on his lips, asking,

"Inoo, would you like to go on a date with me?"

Takaki cheered internally, watching as Inoo looked at Daiki incredulously.

"I... What?"

Daiki shrugged. "You didn't seem like you were going to ask, so I figured I would do it."

Inoo smiled an amazing amount, swamping Daiki in a hug. Daiki smiled back, maneuvering the bouquet into one hand to hug Inoo back.

"Absolutely no roller coasters on this date." Inoo demanded, making Daiki burst into giggles and hug Inoo tighter.

"Yes!" Someone exclaimed. Takaki looked in the direction of the shout, watching the other four come from around the corner. A moment later, Chinen grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to his feet, the two that were hugging spinning to face them all.

"You guys...!"

Both of them were blushing, Daiki looking at them in surprise, Inoo putting his face in his hands.

"Why..." He trailed off. "How long have you been...?"

"We've been waiting for months for this to happen, do you think we'd miss it?" Yabu asked, raising his eyebrows. Takaki nodded in agreement as Daiki turned to Inoo.

"Months?" He asked. "How many months?"

"I'm not answering that." Inoo said flatly. Everyone laughed, but Takaki was distracted by Chinen leaving his side, going over to Yamada and asking him a question, brows furrowed. Yamada shook his head and Chinen pulled out his phone, the device ringing in his hand.

Chinen answered and Takaki didn't listen, looking at Chinen for a few moments before turning his attention back to the rest of his friends.

"Honestly Daiki, we all knew that Inoo was drooling over you, but we weren't sure how returned the feeling was." Hikaru admitted, many nodding in agreement.

Daiki shrugged. "I guess I'd never really thought about it, but just now, when Inoo..." He trailed off, waving his hands in a circular motion, referring to the confession moments before. "I realized that everything would be the same, except I might get to kiss him..." Inoo smiled. "Which might be nice."

"Your house caught on fire? Ryutaro..." Chinen sounded exasperated, and at those words Takaki looked back at Chinen, eyebrows furrowing. That didn't sound good at all.

"Could I stop by and visit you at least?"

A few moments, the person on the other line speaking. Then,

"Awesome. I'll be there soon."

Chinen hung up and slipped his cell phone in to his pocket. Concerned, Takaki felt like he needed to ask

"What was that? Is everything okay?"

"I think so." Chinen answered with a shrug. Takaki wasn't so sure, however, when Chinen turned to the rest and asked a question.

"Could someone take me to the hospital?"


	6. Chapter 6

They all looked at him, surprised and worried.

"Why?" Hikaru asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, but my friend is there and I want to go visit him." Chinen answered quickly. Yamada didn't look eased by the assurance.

"Ryu?" He asked.

Chinen nodded. "He's okay. There was a fire in his house."

Yikes. That wasn't good. That was never good.

"He really is okay," Chinen insisted, "I just haven't seen him in a while and I was going to see him today anyway, so... Don't worry." He looked sorry for making everyone worried as well as rather awkward for the concern he caused, so Takaki decided to speak up.

"I'll take you, if you're alright with riding the motorcycle."

"Sure." Chinen agreed after a few moments. So they all said goodbye to their friends, Chinen hitching his bag over his shoulder and following Takaki into the parking lot. They reached the bike quickly, Takaki climbing on immediately and giving his helmet to Chinen. The younger man hadn't moved, looking at the motorcycle, hands at his sides and eyes widened.

"Climb on." Takaki prompted. That's all it took to make Chinen move, slipping the helmet on. Once he seemed situated, Takaki reached back to place Chinen's arms around his middle. Chinen leaned forward slightly, chest pressed against his back.

"Whatever you do, don't let go." He could tell though, by how tightly Chinen was holding him already, that he didn't need to worry about him not holding tight enough.

"There is no danger of that happening." Chinen confirmed, Takaki nodding and starting up the bike. Chinen's arms gripped tighter around him immediately, and all thoughts that Takaki had of turning corners a bit too tightly and stopping a bit too suddenly, just to scare Chinen like he would with his other friends, completely vanished. He rolled out of the parking lot slowly, wondering just how scared Chinen was.

The answer was made apparent by the fact that Takaki felt like he is about to be snapped in half by the time they arrived. He could barely breathe, parking his bike and taking his helmet off Chinen's head.

"We're here. You can let go now."

As soon as Chinen's arms loosened, air rushed into Takaki's lungs. The expansion hurt, almost making him cough. Chinen's arms were strong.

"D'you think, next time, you could let me breathe while I'm driving?"

Chinen didn't answer, getting off of the bike and bending his knees, putting his head in his hands.

"That was so scary..." He let out a groan. "I thought we were going to die." He stood as Takaki raised his eyebrows.

"You don't trust me?"

"I don't even like regular bicycles. I'm fine with walking everywhere, which is saying something considering how short my legs are. I have no idea how you feel safe going everywhere on that thing." As soon as Chinen said it, Takaki realized that he was right. Chinen walked everywhere; to dance practice, to college. And the university wasn't all that close. He must really be afraid with vehicles, and while Takaki didn't really understand it, he could at least try and make Chinen feel better.

"Well, if anything had happened, at least we were on the way to the hospital." Takaki found his attempt at a joke funny but Chinen did not, glaring a bit before leading the way into the building. Chinen went to the front desk, requesting to see a 'Morimoto Ryutaro' and they were on the way to his room.

Takaki's stomach began tightening as they made their way down the hallway. Morimoto Ryutaro was Chinen's close friend, the one Takaki hadn't met yet, the one good at video games that, from Chinen's various descriptions of him, scared Takaki quite a bit.

"What, nervous?" Chinen asked, amused, somehow noticing Takaki's slightly reluctant way of walking. Not wanting to say yes, Takaki just shrugged.

The first thing Takaki noticed upon pushing the door open was, of course, the boy in the hospital bed. His hair was a simple brown, a bit short, sitting naturally. However, Takaki's gaze quickly shifted from him to the person next to him, sitting in a chair and holding his hand.

"Keito? What're you doing here?"

Keito stood immediately, saying hello, flustered and pink-faced by Takaki's question, as though he had been caught doing something embarrassing.

"My, um... Well..."

He didn't seem able to finish his sentence, so the Morimoto Ryutaro explained for him.

"His boyfriend is in the hospital, that's what." Ryutaro had a smile on his face as he looked at Keito. Takaki remembered that Keito had a boyfriend--Yuto had mentioned it countless times--and he even had known somewhere in the back of his mind that the name began with 'Ryu', but he never would have guessed...

"You're dating Keito?" Chinen was as surprised by the information as Takaki was. "Since when?"

"Uh... Around the time you and Takaki got married, I think."

"And you didn't tell me?" Chinen was appalled by the whole situation, stalking over and hitting Ryutaro in the back of the head with his palm a few times. Takaki wondered if he should tell Chinen that there was something morally incorrect with hitting a person in a hospital bed.

"I told Yamada, but you seemed like you had more serious stuff going on than this! Stop hitting me!" The defending remark seemed to do the trick, Chinen pulling Ryutaro in for a hug instead. Ryutaro hugged back the best he could and laughed, saying,

"I was going to tell you today, I promise, but then..." He trailed off, and Takaki figured he was now talking about the house fire that Chinen had mentioned earlier.

"Yeah, what happened exactly?" Chinen sat up on the bed next to Ryutaro's legs, Keito resuming his seat next to them. Deciding he wanted to sit down too, Takaki saw an empty chair next to a wall and took it. "The house caught on fire?"

"Well..." Ryutaro launched into a long, complicated story about two people named Shintaro and Juri, an exploding microwave, and a misinterpreted fire alarm. It was complete with Chinen interjections, and while Takaki didn't completely understand how all of the events had unfolded, he didn't ask any questions.

"Is everyone alright?" Chinen asked once the story sounded just about over. Ryutaro nodded.

"Yeah. No burns or anything. I'm just in here because I was exposed to the smoke the longest so they're checking my lungs for... Something." He shrugged. "I don't know. The kitchen is a black shell though, so we have to stay somewhere else while it gets renovated."

"Wow, that sucks."

"Yeah." Ryutaro nodded again. "The worst part is, since Juri lives next door and he and Shintaro are such close friends, he's staying over there. In Juri's room." Ryutaro sighed, and Takaki guessed that Shintaro was the brother of Ryutaro's that Chinen had mentioned. "Since he didn't want to tell Mom and Dad yet, I can't protest without outing him." Oh. Juri was Shintaro's boyfriend, and them staying together made Ryutaro uneasy.

"Just threaten to remove his brain with a turkey baster again, it'll be fine." Chinen patted Ryutaro's arm a few times, and Takaki's eyes went wide. Again? Again?

Chinen's best friend was going to hate him, and remove his brain. Takaki gulped. Too caught up in different fearful scenarios, the next thing he heard was Chinen exclaiming

"Hey, you could stay at my house!"

"He can?" Takaki echoed immediately, not sure he liked that idea.

"I can?" Ryutaro also asked, surprised and doubtful.

"Sure!"

"But there's only one room, and I know the couch isn't free." Ryutaro reasoned. He threw a glance in Takaki's direction, meeting his eyes. It was the first time that he even had acknowledged that Takaki was in the room.

"I have a big bed, we'll figure something out." Then Chinen paused his excitement, turning to Keito. "If that's okay with you." He said. Keito however, nodded.

"If Ryutaro wants to, it's fine with me."

"So?" Chinen asked. Ryutaro still seemed reluctant, Takaki waiting anxiously for the verdict.

"I don't want to intrude..."

"I'm not leaving you with your aunt that only eats old fish." Chinen was too insistent to let his friend say no. "C'mon."

"Fine. Thanks Chii."

Chinen smiled, hopping from the bed and walking over to Takaki as Keito passed Ryutaro his cell phone. His eyes lingered on the two, saying quietly

"This is kind of weird."

Takaki nodded."Yuto mentioned Keito's boyfriend a few times that week Keito stepped in for Yabu, and he would get all blushy, but I never would have guessed that it was your terrifying friend." As soon as the adjective was out of his mouth, Takaki regretted saying it. Both of Chinen's eyebrows went up.

"My what?" He asked. He giggled when Takaki shook his head, asking "Are scared of Ryu?"

Takaki let some of the fear into his voice as he asked "Can he really suck someone's brain out with a turkey baster?"

Chinen found the question hilarious, clapping a hand over his mouth to suppress a laugh, and even then some of the mirth escaped, shoulder shaking a bit. He didn't catch Takaki glaring at him, distracted by Ryutaro.

"Hey, Chinen?"

"Yes?"

"My mom said it was a good idea. She's going to swing by and pick me up, then head down to your house."

Ryutaro was going to be at their house that night, Takaki's mind immediately flashing back to his haphazardly flung clothes in the living room, the mess in the kitchen. He wasn't sure why, but making a good impression with Ryutaro was suddenly very important to him. He stood and hooked his index finger around Chinen's to get his attention, tugging his arm towards the door and saying

"We should go, clean up or something."

Chinen looked at him, confused, almost as though he'd grown two heads, but not quite.

"What?" Takaki asked him.

"Nothing."

It wasn't nothing, but if Chinen didn't want to elaborate Takaki wasn't going to ask him to. They said goodbyes, waving and going outside.

Chinen sighed as he climbed on to the motorbike, and Takaki, worried about getting a rib crushed on the way home, turned to Chinen with a few reminders.

"Remember, I need to be able to breathe. At least try not to squeeze."

Chinen put his arms around Takaki, laying his helmeted head on Takaki's back.

"No promises." He said.

One look from Ryutaro was all it took for Chinen's assurances of "he likes you fine" and "you two will get along" to completely fade from Takaki's mind. It was a glare, a destruction-plotting glare that made Takaki freeze, Chinen's younger friend pushing past him and into the house. He was taking Takaki's couch, and because of that Takaki would be sleeping on the floor, on a blow-up mattress in Chinen's bedroom. He didn't mind being in Chinen's room though. He was actually kind of looking forward to it, for some reason.

He set up his own mattress while Chinen helped Ryutaro in the living room. When he was finished Chinen still wasn't back, so Takaki turned off the light and snuggled up in his own bed. He had almost drifted off too, when the door creaked open and something heavy pressed his fingers painfully into the floor.

Takaki made a muffled, hurt noise, and there was a squeak of apology.

"Did I step on you?" Chinen asked. Takaki nodded, then realized that Chinen couldn't see that in the darkness.

"Yeah, kinda."

"I'm so, so sorry." Chinen clicked his bedside table lamp on, illuminating the room in a warm yellow glow. "I didn't know where you put your bed, so..."

"It's okay." Takaki responded, looking up at Chinen and massaging his fingers. "I don't really need these that much anyway."

That made Chinen smile a bit. The younger man crawled into bed, pulling the covers up to his chin.

"Is it alright?" He asked. "Ryu staying here and you sleeping on the floor? I didn't really ask you."

"I'm fine with sleeping on the floor." Takaki said after a moment's consideration. "And as long as we don't actually own a turkey baster, I think I'm fine with Ryutaro, too."

Chinen giggled at that, turning his head to look at Takaki from where he was laying down.

"Why're you afraid of him?"

"Because he's tall, sort of broad shouldered, and doesn't like me."

"And how do you know that?"

"Besides the glare he gave me earlier?" Takaki laid down, squirming slightly until he was comfortable. "Think about it. He's your best friend, and I, using Hikaru's words, am an asshole. Wouldn't that make him want to hit me, or something?"

Chinen reached up to turn of the light, the face that Takaki was looking at disappeared into darkness. There was a ruffling of bed sheets, then Chinen murmured, sounding sleepy,

"I don't think you're an asshole. I like you. I like you fine."

Those words made something warm bubble in Takaki's chest, bursting by way of a smile on his face.

"Well, thanks."

"Mmhm."

With that, Chinen fell silent. Not too long later, he shifted and sighed, his even breathing suggesting that he was asleep. Takaki however, was wide awake. He knew that Chinen liked him, after the younger man had said so a week ago, but now he found himself wondering just how deep this crush went. Chinen had said it was "growing serious" and something he "really didn't need", but how serious was serious? Aside from the flustered blushing he had given Takaki after the compliment earlier that day, Takaki had never seen any signs that Chinen liked him. Did he need to worry about any spontaneous confessions?

If Chinen did confess, what would Takaki say?

Not wanting to think about this now, deciding that the fact that it was so late was messing with his brain, Takaki just shoved his face into his pillow and tried to go to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

When Takaki woke up, the first thing he did was glance around, confused. He wasn't on the couch, with sunlight from the windows streaming in, bothering his eyes and making him shove his face back into his pillow. Instead the room was dim, some light making its way through a curtained window on his left. It actually took a few minutes of intent staring at the ceiling to remember that he was on the floor of Chinen's room, and as soon as he realized that he glanced up at the large bed.

Takaki always assumed that Chinen slept directly in the middle of the large space, but it seemed as though the young man had staked a claim on the right half, lying on his side, head turned in Takaki's direction. He was still asleep, face relaxed, both arms and legs drawn close to his body. One foot had barely made its way out from under the blue bed sheets. Takaki looked at him for a few moments, evaluating.

Chinen Yuri was adorable.

Chinen must have felt Takaki's eyes on him, because a few moments later his own eyes opened. They landed on Takaki and stayed there, unblinking, and Takaki looked back.

"Good morning."

"It is." Chinen agreed, pulling himself up to a sitting position. He yawned, making a light whining noise as he arched his back and stretched out his arms. He looked at Takaki blearily and asked "Do you want to make breakfast with me?"

Make a mess in the kitchen with a half asleep Chinen?

"Sure." Takaki answered. Chinen seemed surprised by his affirmative answer but smiled a bit, sliding out of bed. Takaki followed Chinen in to the kitchen.

"I don't know how to cook anything." Takaki warned as they entered the kitchen. Chinen shrugged.

"Neither did I, until we moved in here. I just drew on things I'd seen my mother do and went with it."

Oh. Takaki was impressed. Chinen padded to the fridge, yawning again, opening it and pulling out the carton of eggs, setting it on the counter. Takaki expected some sort of instruction, but instead Chinen went over to the lump under blankets on the couch. Ryutaro.

"Ryu." He shook the teenager twice, making him groan and roll slightly. Takaki stayed safely in the kitchen, watching as Chinen jumped on his friend's back, sitting on him.

"Ugh, Chii, what is it?"

"What would you like for breakfast?" Chinen asked, seemingly more awake now.

"More sleep."

"C'mon, it's already ten-thirty. How would you like your eggs?"

"...scrambled."

Nodding in satisfaction, Chinen got up and rejoined Takaki.

"Crack some of those into a bowl and mix them." Chinen said, pointing to the eggs. "I'll make some pancakes, or something."

"How many is some?" Takaki asked. Chinen shrugged. Takaki got out a bowl, then looked at the selection of utensils. What did one mix eggs with? A spoon? A fork?

"You should use a fork." Chinen said, noticing his inner conflict.

"Thanks." Takaki responded. Chinen laughed, turning back to his pancake mix. Takaki decided on five eggs, all of them cracking cleanly until the last one. The shell went everywhere, Takaki fishing out the big parts and hoping Chinen wouldn't notice.

"Now what?" He asked.

"Now we scramble them." Chinen declared, pulling out a pan from a bottom cabinet. There was a loud amount of clanging as he did so, reminding Takaki of the first morning at the house.

"Does taking out a pan always make that much noise?" He had to ask, smiling and raising his eyebrows in Chinen's direction.

"Yup." The younger man replied. He turned the burner under the pan on, dropping a small hunk of butter in to melt.

"I thought we were making eggs...?" Takaki asked, pointing to the butter. Chinen blinked at him, as though he couldn't believe the words that had just come out of his mouth. Takaki immediately regretted speaking.

"It keeps the eggs from sticking to the pan."

Takaki opened his mouth into a small 'o', nodding in understanding. That made sense, and if he'd actually let himself think, Takaki realized that he probably would have been able to figure that out. Chinen grinned, giggling at him.

Once the eggs had been sufficiently scrambled, the pancake batter was ready.

"Go ask Ryutaro what he wants to drink, would you?" Chinen asked, pouring out a pancake on the stove. Takaki stood still for a few moments.

"Do I have to?" He finally asked.

"You're asking a question, not waking a sleeping dragon." Chinen threw him a look. "Come on."

It felt like waking a dragon to Takaki, who tip-toed into the living room. Ryutaro had fallen back asleep, laying on his stomach, arms reaching over his head to wrap around his pillow. Takaki briefly considered poking Ryutaro with the wooden spoon he was holding, the one he had used to scramble the eggs, but that probably wouldn't help him into Ryutaro's good books so he just extended his arm instead.

After a bit of shaking, Ryutaro gave him a bleary look.

"What."

It didn't sound like a question, more like an annoyed demand.

"What would you like to drink?" Takaki felt like a waiter.

"Well..." Ryutaro sat up slowly. "What do you have?"

"Um..." Takaki wracked his brain, really feeling like a waiter now. "Milk, water, apple and orange juice, coffee..."

"Just water is fine, thank you."

Ryutaro was treating him like a waiter and knew it too, giving him a polite smile and waving a hand. Takaki blinked a few times before going back to the kitchen. There were now three large pancakes cooking on the stove, Chinen extending his spatula to Takaki.

"I'm no good at flipping pancakes, could you do it?"

"I've never done this before." Their chef always made all the food at Takaki's old home; Takaki barely even set foot in the kitchen.

"Just get it on the spatula and turn it over. It'll be fine."

Once the spatula was in Takaki's hand, Chinen began rifling through a drawer. Takaki turned his attention to the pancake predicament in front of him. Slowly, he slid the spatula under one of them. It went smoothly, and Takaki picked the pancake up easily. He held it up, proud of himself, just as Chinen said,

"Hey, we do own a turkey baster."

"What?" Takaki's arm jerked in a weird mix of surprise and fear, the pancake flying away. It hit something batter side first, splatting against the surface. Takaki turned slowly to see the damage, Chinen doubling over into giggles next to him.

Ryutaro stood in the kitchen doorway, unmoving, letting gravity take hold of the half finished pancake, sliding down his face mortifyingly slowly and on to the floor. Then the teenager licked the batter off his lips, tasting it.

"I think it's a little undercooked." He reported, making Chinen laugh even harder.

Somehow, the mess was cleaned up and breakfast was completed. It tasted fine too, which was a bit of a miracle. While they were eating Chinen declared that he and Ryutaro were going clothing shopping later. Takaki would be left to his own devices for a while. He wasn't sure how he would keep himself occupied, about to turn on the television when his phone rang.

"Hey Takaki. You busy?" It was Hikaru.

"No actually, not at all. Why?"

"Yabu, Yuto, Yamada, and I are planning on following Inoo and Daiki around. You up for it?"

"Following them around?" Takaki echoed.

"The date."

Oh. Right. Their date was today. Inoo had texted him about it late last night, something about being too excited to sleep. Takaki on the other hand, was quite tired and hadn't responded. Really, Takaki didn't know much at all about the event. But Hikaru wanted to go follow them around? Takaki was more than up for that.

"Do you know where their date is?"

"I think they're going out to the mall and hanging out, or something. It sounded dull, but I guess they'll have fun just being together."

It did sound dull. Takaki nodded.

"We're all meeting at the mall, in the food court. Come with some sort of disguise, if you can. Just in case."

A disguise? Takaki almost laughed. No way.

"Alright. See you there."

When Takaki got to the food court, it wasn't too hard to spot his friends. Mainly because Hikaru had on a hat, sunglasses, bulky coat, and foot-long gray fake beard. The other three were dressed normally, shorts and t-shirts.

"Oh my god, you look like an idiot."

"Hello to you too." Hikaru responded, adjusting his hat.

"Yabu, how could you let your boyfriend out of the house looking like that?"

"It's not... Too bad." Yabu said defensively, touching the end of the fake beard. Yamada's eyes doubled in size, and Yuto put a hand on his mouth.

"Yabu, if you let Hikaru grow facial hair I swear--"

"It's them!" Yamada hissed, cutting Takaki off and pointing. Immediately they all looked over, and sure enough it was Inoo and Daiki, walking into the mall. Their hands were down by their sides, Daiki's pinky looped around Inoo's. Takaki almost cooed.

"We need to hide." Yuto hissed when he noticed that the two were walking in their direction.

"If you guys had just dressed up like I suggested, we wouldn't have--"

"Oh shut up." Takaki grabbed Hikaru's arm, and the five of them crouched behind the table of a family of six.

"Hi."

Yamada's greeting was met with blank stares, and as soon as the new couple left the food court--apparently, they were just passing through--Hikaru apologized and they left them alone.

"Where did they go?" Yabu asked.

"They're trying on hats." Yuto reported, pointing to an accessories store. Sure enough, there the two of them were, making funny faces and giggling at each other. They just walked around, putting on various necklaces, sunglasses, and hats. By the time Daiki had two rings on every finger and Inoo somehow managed to get four pairs of sunglasses to stay on his face the two decided to take a picture of themselves. Inoo kissed Daiki's cheek as the younger held up his phone, staying there until the picture was taken.

"They're so cutesy, I might just throw up." Takaki confessed.

"C'mon, we all knew this was what was going to happen when they got together." Yabu pointed out.

The date really wasn't too exciting to watch, largely just the two window shopping and enjoying each other's company. More interesting, Takaki found, were Yamada and Yuto's interactions. Their eyes flat-out sparkled when they looked at each other, Yuto using just about every excuse in his arsenal to grab Yamada's hand or be next to him. Being caught between their level of preciousness and Hikaru and Yabu, whose hearts seemed to even beat at the same time, made Takaki wish that Chinen was here with him.

Though Takaki wouldn't admit it to anyone--especially Inoo--he was beginning to find himself surprisingly okay with the idea of developing a crush on Chinen. Because why not? It was like Inoo had said earlier. They were already married, and Chinen wasn't some old, greasy guy with a comb over. He was cute, he was nice, and he made Takaki smile. Wasn't that all there was to a crush anyways?

They almost got caught by Inoo and Daiki as the couple were leaving, shoving each other into clothing racks in an effort to hide. Hikaru couldn't hide in time, meeting eyes with both of them before Yabu grabbed his arm and dragged him behind some coats.

"Mission accomplished!" Yuto exclaimed when they were out of the mall. "We did it!"

"And thanks to my disguise, we didn't get caught." Hikaru said smugly.

"Right." Takaki raised an eyebrow at his friend. "We all still on for rehearsal tomorrow?"

Once they'd all nodded in confirmation, Takaki made his way home.

It was just the band that came over the next day. The rehearsal felt rather short and rushed, barely lasting an hour or two, running through a bunch of music before packing up and leaving, Yuto and Yabu both saying that they desperately needed to study for their upcoming exams. Inoo needed to study too, and Takaki knew that, so when the younger man instead stayed and took a seat on Takaki's couch, it wasn't hard to figure out that he wanted to talk. So Takaki got a cup of water and decided to indulge him.

"How was the date with Daiki?"

"Fantastic." The word burst from Inoo's lips much too quickly, as if he had been trying to hold it in all day long. "Everything I could have ever hoped for. Well, except for this weird old guy that followed us around the whole time."

Takaki snorted into his drink. He didn't know whether or not he could deem Hikaru's costume successful--true, Inoo and Daiki hadn't recognized him, which was the point of the entire getup, but if he hadn't been wearing it, they probably wouldn't have noticed him at all in the first place.

"What did you guys do?"

"Nothing, really. Just walked around and made idiots out of ourselves. It was fun, though. The feel of everything was just so nice, because all of the goofing off and inside jokes made it relaxing, like we were friends, but I got to do all of the cheek kissing and hand holding that I've always wanted to do."

That made Takaki smile. Though it was long overdue, he was glad the step forward in Inoo and Daiki's relationship had gone so well. "That's really, really great."

"I know. I'm worried about one thing, though." Inoo grew serious, which was unusual for him to do, looking into his lap, at his hands.

"What is it?"

"He kissed me."

Takaki's eyebrows jumped up. He wanted to say congratulations, but Inoo's tone of voice made him think twice about it.

"Why are you worried? Is he a bad kisser, or something?"

"No, no, not at all. It's more that I don't know what I should do." Inoo fiddled with his fingers some more. "He was dropping me off at my house, and I was just going to kiss his cheek again, playing it safe and stuff, and..." Inoo shrugged. "Either I missed or he just went for it. Once it happened, it was like this dam of pent-up feelings just opened and if I hadn't jumped away a second later, I don't know when I would have."

Oh. Wow. "That's exciting."

"Tell me about it." Inoo grumbled, and Takaki nearly spit out his water when he realized the way Inoo had interpreted his sentence.

"That's not what I... Did Daiki have this feeling too, or was it just you?"

Inoo shrugged. "I don't know. I all but ran out of the car, really."

Takaki sat silently for a few moments, thinking of some sort of advice to give his friend. When he realized he had just about nothing to say, he just looked over at him.

"I don't know why you went to me about this." He confessed honestly.

"You're my best friend." Inoo responded.

"Yeah, but Hikaru and Yabu have known each other for ten years now. Ask them about it. Call Yabu or something."

"Fine." Inoo said, tone lifting into something more playful. "Maybe I will."

Takaki smiled and Inoo stood up, saying,

"I really do need to go though. I'm about ninety-three percent sure I'm going to fail my probability and statistics exam."

The joke was met with an unamused look, making Inoo laugh.

"I really just... Don't want to mess this up with him, you know?"

Takaki slung an arm around Inoo's shoulders as they walked to the door.

"Then stop stressing so much. It's Daiki. Nothing to worry about, right?"

"Right."

After a quick hug, Inoo was on his way home.


	8. Chapter 8

Life with Ryutaro wasn't too different than life without him, mainly because he spent most of his days in school and leaving Takaki alone in favor of interacting with Chinen, or talking to Keito on the phone. Takaki ended up spending a lot of time in his new room, for no real reason other than Chinen's bed was extremely comfortable. Chinen spent his days studying, so Takaki tried to leave him alone, getting onto Chinen's bed on Tuesday night, half texting Yabu, half watching the back of Chinen's head as he went through his math problems. He didn't mean to fall asleep, but ended up getting drowsy and dozing off.

Takaki was woken up the next morning by a painfully annoying, blaring alarm. He groaned, curling tighter around a warm, tiny body that he definitely didn't want to let go of.

It took just one inhale of the scent of shampoo for Takaki's sleep-hazed brain to realize that it was Chinen that was incased in his arms, but he fit so comfortably there that the older was not at all keen on letting go.

This was nice.

Takaki didn't know how much time passed, laying there in a haze of sleepy contentment, about to drift off again when Chinen spoke up.

"Hey, I have to get up."

He wriggled a bit as he spoke, and the only thing Takaki could get his brain to formulate was a protest.

"I don't want you to."

"I have to go to school."

Right. School, college, exams... It was Wednesday, meaning that Chinen was scheduled to take some of those this week. At least, he thought so.

"You have tests today, right?"

"Yeah, two."

Takaki gave Chinen a tight hug around the middle, saying

"Good luck."

Then he loosened his grip, albeit reluctantly, and could hear the smile in Chinen's voice as the younger man replied.

"Thanks."

Takaki lounged around in bed--he had managed to also remember that yes, he was in Chinen's bed, having accidentally fallen asleep there last night--listening to Chinen get ready and go to school. It wasn't until the front door shut quite loudly that he was snapped out of his drowsy state and back to his senses.

Takaki suddenly realized that he was in a great deal of trouble.

He had slept with Chinen curled in his arms, been star struck by his dancing, thoroughly enjoyed making breakfast with him, thought he was adorable, and not only liked spending time with him, but wanted to do more of it.

Based upon these actions, Takaki couldn't help but acknowledge that he had a painfully obvious crush on Chinen Yuri.

Ryutaro opened the bedroom door, quite surprised to see Takaki awake at this hour. Then his eyes narrowed.

"You're not supposed to be sleeping there."

Takaki also had a step-best friend that wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

"It was a... We didn't... I'm..."

Ryutaro had his arms crossed and eyebrows raised. Takaki decided to shut up. He jumped from the bed, heading to the bathroom to take a shower. This wasn't good.

He actively avoided both Ryutaro and Chinen for the rest of the day, and thankfully neither of the younger men seemed to notice. Avoiding them on Thursday was a bit more difficult, Chinen especially; with only one exam Friday, he wasn't studying quite so much, wanting to engage Takaki in conversation. But Takaki was so suddenly hyper aware of everything Chinen did or said that he found it easier--or at least less embarrassing--to not talk to him at all, breathing a sigh of relief as Chinen left for dance rehearsal. The moment didn't last long however, Ryutaro walking in the door less than fifteen minutes later.

Takaki greeted him with a wave, trying to act casual as he put in a video game. Some first person shooter game. Save the secret formula and shoot the bad guys. Or something. Ryutaro sat down next to him, making Takaki sit straighter. Being this on edge was ridiculous.

"Can I play?" Ryutaro asked. Takaki nodded.

"Sure."

Takaki selected two player, the screen splitting to accommodate both of them. They were silent for a few minutes, going through the game. Then Ryutaro spoke up, deadly serious.

"So."

"So?" Takaki asked back after a few moments.

"I'm not going to ask you whether or not you like Chinen, because I think I know the answer." Ryutaro said. Takaki swallowed. "I'm not going to try to get in the way of any decision you make."

"Okay."

"That being said," Ryutaro turned his soldier character to face Takaki's, gun up to his head, backing him into a wall. "If he is crying and even the hint of your name comes out of his mouth, if you so much as _touch _him when he does not want you to, you will be crippled for the rest of your years on this earth. I will kick your ass."

Oh god.

The words, and the conviction with which they were said, made Takaki want to run into his room, pack his bags, give Ryutaro his Xbox, change his name, and flee to Canada. Well, maybe not all the way to Canada. Maybe just to Inoo's apartment.

He didn't dare look at Ryutaro, wetting his lips a few times before finding his voice.

"Understood."

"Good."

Ryutaro's character backed up, and they completed the mission in silence.

"We'd both seen the movie a hundred times before, so we were quoting it to each other and giggling, and we got to the part where all of the romantic, confession stuff happens and Daiki decided to lean over and kiss me, and next thing we know--"

Takaki let out a loud groan in complaint, cutting his friend off.

"Do you really have to call me every time you and Daiki do anything? You relayed an entire text conversation to me yesterday. It's weird."

"Who else am I supposed to tell?" Inoo asked back.

"Yabu? Yuto? Anyone but me!" Takaki suggested.

"Takaki..." Inoo whined. "Do you want to hear this story or not?"

"Not r--"

He was cut off as Inoo continued. "I wanted to get closer to him, so I climbed on his lap. I was so nervous because I didn't know what to do with my hands, but his hands... His hands were so warm, and they were holding the backs of my thighs, and..."

Takaki didn't know whether he should hold the phone away from his ear until the story was over or have a loud, fake coughing fit until Inoo stopped talking. He decided on the first option, waiting a few minutes before there was silence.

"So, what do you think?" Inoo asked when he replaced the phone between his right ear and his shoulder.

"You want my opinion?" Takaki asked, slightly incredulous.

"Of course I do."

"I think you should buy a diary."

"No, not about that!" Inoo said quickly. "About the amusement park idea."

"...amusement park?" Takaki echoed. Inoo huffed.

"Were you even listening?" He asked. Takaki didn't dare say no. "Hikaru called me and said that Yuto's birthday was coming up, and we needed to do something to celebrate. So Daiki and I were thinking, maybe it would be fun to go out to an amusement park with everyone. Yuto likes exciting things like roller coasters, right?"

"What about you though? You and roller coasters aren't a good mix."

"I'll ride the carousel or something. A little screaming never hurt anybody; it'll be fine."

"Then it sounds good to me."

Takaki made an excuse about needing to hang up before Inoo decided to talk about Daiki again, going back to the cupcakes he was making.

He knew this baking adventure he had embarked upon would probably end in disaster, but Chinen had finished his exams today, and he wanted to give the younger man a reward for all of his stress besides a grade. And even if they tasted bad, at least it's the thought that counts, right?

He finished slathering the icing on the cupcakes a few moments before Chinen walked through the door. He was very surprised upon seeing the treats, Takaki brandishing his arms towards his handiwork.

"Takaki, what...?"

"You made it through testing, congratulations. I made them, so they're probably horrible, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try."

Chinen did look rather apprehensive as he picked one up, taking a tentative bite. Takaki took a bite too, and immediately resisted the urge to spit the cupcake back out. It tasted too much like baking soda and salt, and he found he couldn't swallow it.

Chinen did, clearing his throat and saying, "These are kind of horrible."

Takaki nodded and spit the failed dessert into the sink.

"Thank god you agree, I couldn't eat this even if I wanted to. Maybe next time you could show me how to make them."

Chinen nodded and laughed. "Thank you for making them, though."

"Sure. Oh," Takaki remembered Inoo's reading for calling, asking, "How do you feel about going to an amusement park tomorrow?"

"Amusement park?"

"It's going to be Yuto's birthday, and exams are over." Takaki explained. "It was Inoo and Daiki's idea."

"Sounds like fun." Chinen said with a contemplative nod. "Who all is going?"

Takaki wasn't sure about that. "The band at least, and Keito... All friends and boyfriends are invited, I think."

"Am I Yuto's friend, or am I in the boyfriend category?" Chinen asked. The question took Takaki aback.

"Whose boyfriend are you?"

"Well, we're not dating, but..." Chinen fidgeted with his fingers. "You are my husband."

"Right." The fact that Takaki's first thought was how much he wanted to change the first part of Chinen's sentence made heat rise up in his cheeks, unbidden. "I'm not sure then. Either way, you're coming, if you'd like."

"I would." Chinen confirmed with a nod.

This was going to be interesting, having all of them together in one place. Sure, the band hung out a lot, both inside and outside of a more musical setting, but it was always just them, or them and Daiki. Takaki definitely wanted to get to know Yuto's "perfect" new boyfriend, Yamada Ryosuke, much better.

They lounged around for a while, contrasting opinions on different types of roller coasters and carnival food, with Chinen texting Ryutaro every ten minutes and trying to get him to come home from Keito's house, when Takaki remembered with a jolt that they would have to ride the motorcycle to get to the amusement park, something that Chinen not only hated, but was terrified of.

Takaki cleared off the kitchen table, trying to figure out what to do. Even if Chinen wanted to take public transportation, they would have to ride to the train station, and there was no way walking was an option.

"I'm heading to bed, what about you?" Chinen asked, just as Takaki formulated a solution. It wasn't perfect, but it could work.

"I have to go out and do something, actually." He answered. "It shouldn't take too long though."

"Alright."

The bike shop smelled strongly of motor oil, making Takaki cough a few times as he entered.

"What can I do for you?" Fujigaya, the man behind the counter in a beat up leather jacket, asked.

"I need a motorcycle helmet for a tiny-headed person." Takaki responded, unsure of how else to put it.

"Show him where the helmets are, would you?" Fujigaya said, patting his coworker on the butt to get his attention. The coworker--Kitayama, Takaki read on the name tag--threw the man a look but didn't protest, motioning for Takaki to follow him.

"All of the smaller sized helmets that we have in stock are for children." Kitayama explained as they walked deeper into the shop. "There aren't really any plain ones, so hopefully whoever you're buying for likes monster trucks or the color pink."

Sure enough, the helmet selection was small and slightly atrocious. The helmets for boys had things like skateboards and cars on them, and the ones for girls had hearts and fairy wings, every one of them a shade of pink or purple. Takaki nearly got the helmet with the ballet shoes on it but didn't want to be too patronizing, instead selecting the simplest one he could find: a pink and purple leopard print.

He didn't realize how mortifying it would be to give Chinen the helmet until he pulled it from behind his back the next day while trying to convince him that a motorcycle ride to the amusement park would not be a death defying act.

"I... Wow." Was all Chinen said.

"I know, it's bad." Takaki said apologetically. "We can go out later and pick out something better, but I just wanted to--"

"No," Chinen said, cutting him off. "It's fine. It's great. Thank you so much." He sounded rather sincere, making Takaki suppress a smile. Chinen fitted the helmet on his head, saying,

"Let's go."

"Wait, really?" The sudden declaration wasn't expected, and Takaki quickly reached for his own helmet.

"Now," Chinen said with a nod, "before I change my mind."

Takaki nodded back and they got on the bike, speeding away.

Chinen was pressed rather close to him, but he wasn't squeezing quite as hard as he had before, making Takaki hope that the helmet was doing at least some good.

The amusement park was about twenty-five minutes away, and when the two arrived they found that they were the last ones there, Inoo, Daiki, Yamada, Keito, and even Ryutaro waiting at the gate for them.


	9. Chapter 9

"Finally." Inoo said with an exaggerated groan. "Are we good to go in now?"

Takaki shrugged and Chinen nodded, the group taking that as a yes and making their way inside. The place was rather crowded, as per usual on a Saturday, all of them sticking close together just inside the gate.

Inoo received a text from Yabu, saying that they had arrived. Daiki proposed hiding somewhere, but there wasn't really anywhere to pop out from. So instead they jumped in Yuto's face when he got through the gate, shouting "Happy birthday!" at him, much to his delight. Once the birthday boy was done being surprised at them all, Hikaru asked him,

"What do you want to do first?"

"That." Yuto declared after a few moments of looking around. He was pointing to what was easily the tallest roller coaster in the amusement park. Takaki looked over at Inoo, who had noticeably paled.

"What?" The pianist asked when he noticed everyone's eyes on him.

"Are you going to be okay?"

Inoo waved his hand, trying his hardest to act casual.

"Of course!"

Takaki raised his eyebrows but decided against questioning Inoo's apparently newfound bravery, the ten of them making their way in the direction of the large mechanical contraption. Chinen skipped ahead to greet Ryutaro, who was walking next to Keito, so Takaki turned his attention to Inoo and Daiki.

"I honestly cannot believe you're not protesting." He said.

"Daiki helped me realize that there's nothing to be afraid of." Inoo said, holding his head up and jutting out his chin. "It's just a cart on a track... Held on by nothing but momentum... That could malfunction or break or possibly... Kill me at any time...."

The headstrong look in Inoo's eyes faded as he talked, Daiki taking Inoo's hand firmly in his own and giving Takaki a look.

"Thanks, moron."

Before Takaki had the chance to retort, a pileup consisting of Yabu and Keito made the entire group stop moving. Keito's face was bright red, Yabu rubbing his shoulder and looking at the younger man in concern.

"I'm so sorry!" Keito apologized loudly, bowing, sounding a bit frantic. Takaki had no idea what was going on.

"I'm okay," Yabu said with a chuckle, "It's not like you killed me or anything."

Keito's back straightened, the mention of death making him look even more worried, if that was possible, stuttering out another apology.

Laughing and slinging an arm around his best friend's shoulders in silent reassurance, Yuto resumed their journey to the extreme machine. Chinen murmured something to a rather stiffly walking Ryutaro, and Takaki got a feeling that the miniature catastrophe he had just caught the end of had something to do with Chinen going up to talk to them earlier.

A shout from Daiki made Takaki look over in time to see Inoo sprinting away with Daiki sprinting after him. Somehow, Takaki wasn't surprised.

"What's wrong with Inoo?" Chinen asked.

"He's terrified of roller coasters." Hikaru responded. "Always has been."

"We shouldn't make him go on one then, should we?" Yamada asked, a light frown on his face. As Inoo's best friend, Takaki felt the need to completely disagree with the sympathetic sentiment.

"Of course we should. We should see if we can make him cry."

His remark was met with both an exclamation and a jab in the ribs from Chinen, Takaki letting out a shout of pain and asking indignantly,

"What was that for?"

"That's not nice." Chinen said, and the pout on the younger man's face was both slightly surprising and rather fitting.

It didn't take too long for Daiki to catch up with Inoo, grabbing his boyfriend around the waist and picking him up. Inoo flailed his limbs in surprise, and even from the distance they were at Takaki could see laughter splitting Daiki's face, Inoo smiling back. By the time they got into line again, Inoo seemed both less reluctant and less terrified.

"Are you riding the roller coaster?" Hikaru asked as they got back, with an interjection of "You don't have to." from Yuto.

"Yes you do." Takaki said quickly. Inoo ignored them all, explaining,

"Daiki said if I ride this one he'd go on the carousel with me."

The group cooed, Inoo swinging he and a slightly bashful Daiki's entwined hands. It was hard to believe that this couple was the same one that had been in the make out event that Inoo had felt it necessary to share with him earlier.

"You guys act so cute and innocent." Takaki had to say.

"What do you mean?" Yamada asked, question reflecting the confusion showing on everyone else's faces. Did Inoo really only tell him?

"Well, not to name names," Takaki pointed indiscreetly in Inoo and Daiki's direction, "But someone nearly got to second base on date two."

"That was years ago, how do you know about that?" Yabu sounded very surprised and confused, and that unexpected piece of information made Takaki blink a few times and look over at him.

"Kota, I don't think he was talking about us." Hikaru told his boyfriend, nudging him in the direction of a sufficiently embarrassed Inoo and Daiki.

"Seriously? I've only just now kissed Yamada." Yuto said, the comment earning him an indignant whack on the arm from Yamada himself. Takaki glanced at Inoo, saying,

"I told him I didn't want to know all of the graphic details, but he let me know anyway. But really though," he then turned to Yabu, addressing his earlier exclamation. "You guys too? Second base?"

Hikaru just shrugged. "We were teenagers. Hormones were everywhere."

Takaki made a face. "Don't share. Please."

So, of course, Yabu had to begin elaborately describing a past date, causing laughter from everyone. Before he got too far though, it was their turn on the roller coaster.

Takaki was squeezed into a car next to Chinen, realizing suddenly that they were the only not-officially-together couple in the group. It was somewhat awkward, but Chinen didn't seem to notice this happenstance, letting out small yells whenever the roller coaster dipped or turned especially fast. When they got off he looked at Takaki and giggled, but wouldn't say why. Then it was time to ride the carousel.

Takaki wasn't sure he wanted Chinen to see him on a ride meant for children twelve and under, but didn't have much of a choice in the matter as Inoo and Daiki flanked him and tugged him on. Both of Chinen's friends seemed to share his sentiment, but after their boyfriends got on the carousel, they did too.

Takaki nearly got into a fight with a rather sassy five year old girl over who would get to ride the blue unicorn, but as soon as the phrase "but I got here first" left his lips he was suddenly reminded that he was a twenty-four year old man, and got on to the orange dragon near a disgruntled Ryutaro instead.

Inoo let out a battle cry as the ride began, then was politely reminded by the staff to please not do that. But the carousel was fun, as were the moderately slowly spinning teacups that still managed to make Inoo squeak out curses and take Takaki's arm in a death grip.

"Where to next?" Yuto asked. They all gave noncommittal shrugs, except for Daiki.

"Could we go on another roller coaster?" He asked. There was one not too far away with a relatively short line in front of it, so the idea was accepted and they began walking. Inoo wasn't having any more roller coaster riding, however, and he told them so.

"The deal stated that the other terrifying thing was the only one I had to go on. I'm going to keep both feet on the ground, thank you very much."

"C'mon..." Daiki pouted, Chinen piping up,

"I'll stay with Inoo, if that's alright. And Keito will too." He added the last sentence as bit of an afterthought, and by the time they got to the roller coaster, Yamada had also decided to sit that one out.

"Chickens." Takaki declared. Both Chinen and Inoo stuck their tongues out at him. Yuto pulled Yamada in by the side of his head, kissing his cheek before getting into line next to Daiki.

"Someone's a bit smitten." Hikaru said, eyebrows raised.

"Have you seen him?" Yuto asked defensively. "I can't help it."

"We can talk about who's boyfriend is the cutest all day--it's mine, by the way," Daiki said, "but right now I think we need to talk about Takaki."

"What about me?" Takaki asked, confused by all the nods of agreement. Before anyone elaborated, however, they got on the roller coaster.

Daiki was absolute best person to ride roller coasters with, Takaki decided. He would shout, throw his hands up, throw Takaki's hands up for him, and when they got off Takaki's face hurt from smiling.

"Really though, what about me?" Takaki asked again as they got off the ride.

"Is that a new style you're going for?" Hikaru asked, nodding to Takaki's wind-destroyed hair. He frantically smoothed the crazy strands down.

"What we actually wanted to know was," Yabu said with a laugh, "When were you going to tell us you had a crush on Chinen?"

"I... How did...? What?" Takaki couldn't do anything but splutter.

"We were right!" Yuto exclaimed, going around the group for high fives, a gesture that everyone, even Ryutaro, returned.

"How did you guys know?" Was he that obvious? Takaki wanted to cringe.

"Well, you kind of have been staring at him since we got off the first roller coaster." Hikaru supplied. "Plus, I don't think I've seen that pink and purple motorcycle helmet before. Is it new?"

Takaki groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"What's wrong?" Yuto asked. "You're not as obvious as Inoo was."

"Oh god, please don't tell Inoo." Takaki said quickly. "He's been weird about me and Chinen since day one."

"When did you realize you liked him? This has to be a new development." Daiki asked. They were nearing the bench with the rest of their friends, so Takaki spoke quickly.

"Wednesday, maybe? But now I feel all awkward and nervous and this guy is going to kill me." Takaki confessed, jutting his thumb in Ryutaro's direction. The teen just smiled at the group and threw up a peace sign.

"I'm hungry!" Inoo whined as soon as they were within earshot, jumping up from the bench he had been sitting on and slinging his arms around Daiki's neck.

"Want some bad carnival food?" Daiki asked, and Inoo nodded. The area with the food and arcade booths was a bit of a walk, however, and Chinen seemed to notice, sighing and saying,

"But I'm tired..."

Hikaru, Yabu, and Daiki all threw pointed looks at Takaki, who caught on and was about to ask Chinen if he wanted to be carried when Keito interrupted.

"I could, um, give you a piggy back ride. If that's not weird or anything."

Chinen smiled brightly at the offer, thanking Keito, and before long Chinen was perched on the older man's back and they began their quest for food.

Once they'd reached the area with all of the food stands, Ryutaro gave Takaki a nudge, surprising him.

"Hey. Do something."

The high schooler was looking at Keito and Chinen, and Takaki had no idea what he wanted.

"Do something? Like what?"

"Get your boyfriend off mine, maybe?"

"He's not--"

"You know what I mean."

So Takaki did as he was asked, clumsily picking Chinen up from Keito's back and into a princess lift.

"What's this about?" Chinen asked, looking up at him. Takaki decided Chinen's face this close to his own was a bit dangerous, putting him down and trying to think of a reason besides "Ryutaro told me to".

"You probably shouldn't eat on Keito's back, right?" Takaki asked, feeling rather embarrassed. Realizing that Chinen might still not want to walk, though, he started up again. "If you still want to be carried though, I could..."

Chinen shook his head. "Thanks, but it's alright."

After the group had gone through a few turkey legs, Ryutaro bought a funnel cake and made a huge mess on Keito's face with it, both of them laughing. And really, Takaki should have seen coming what happened next.

"Yuyan!"

Takaki didn't think he would ever get used to being called that, heart jumping into his chest, Inoo mouthing the nickname rather incredulously at Takaki as he turned around to face Chinen.

Just in time to get powdered sugar all over his face.

"Hey!"

Chinen giggled at him as he jerked backwards, running out of reach. Seeing that Chinen was distracted with laughter though, Takaki grabbed the chance, jumping forward and tipping the plate at the younger man. Chinen realized what he was trying to do before he managed to complete the action, letting out a sound that could be best described as a squeak of surprise and letting the plate fall out of his hands.

"Look what you did!" Takaki said with a laugh, pointing at the funnel cake on the ground.

"It was your fault! You were going to dump it on me!" Chinen exclaimed back, indignant, making Takaki laugh harder. Chinen huffed and crossed his arms, hair a bit ruffled, giving Takaki an unamused look.

God, he was cute.

Realizing the state of his own face, Takaki began wiping some of the sugar off. Curious, he licked a bit of the powdered sugar from his index and middle fingers.

"Hey, this tastes pretty good."

"Of course it does. It's sugar." Chinen said, still with his unamused expression and crossed arms. Takaki walked a bit closer, getting a bit more sugar on his finger.

"Try some."

"I don't want to lick something that's been on your face!" Chinen sounded almost insulted, making Takaki laugh.

"Fine."

Then he extended his arm a bit farther, smudging the powdered sugar in a line across Chinen's cheek.

"Takaki!" Chinen shouted indignantly, running and hiding behind Yamada. Takaki laughed some more, proud of himself.

"You look like a crack addict." Daiki said bluntly, walking up to Takaki. The older spluttered for a second, realizing that he really might because he did have white powder all over his face, cleaning the rest of his face off with the inside of his shirt. They all began walking through the amusement park again.

"Oh my god!" Inoo exclaimed under his breath, hurrying over to them. "You like Chinen! I knew it! I knew it I knew it I knew--"

Takaki put a hand over Inoo's mouth. "Don't let him hear you."

Inoo nodded, Takaki removing his hand slowly.

"You should him, you should tell him, you need to--"

"Shh!" Takaki replaced his hand, sighing. "I'm not going to tell him."

"You so are." Inoo said once Takaki's hand had been licked and removed. Takaki was going to protest, but instead Inoo pointed to a nearby arcade game that was giving stuffed animals out as prizes.

"Win him one of those! It would be so romantic."

Romantic? Takaki made a face. "That might just be the ugliest stuffed animal dog I have ever seen."

"C'mon!" Inoo whined. "It'll be from you. He'll love it."

Knowing that Inoo wouldn't let up--and that hey, it really wasn't too bad of an idea after all--Takaki walked over to the game.

"Want to play?" The guy behind the booth asked. Takaki nodded. He began explaining the rules as Takaki handed over the money--it was simple, just hit the balloons with the he was given darts--and Takaki got ready to play.

The big yellow balloon in the center was the one that needed to be popped to win the biggest prize, so that's what Takaki aimed for. It was much more difficult than it seemed to be, and after he managed to miss every single balloon with every single dart, the man raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're terrible at this."

"Shut up." Takaki responded. He wasn't about to go back empty handed or let this man have the last word, giving up more money for a second chance. Finally, with the last dart he had left, he hit the yellow balloon.

But the dart bounced off, popping a smaller red one before falling to the ground. The yellow balloon wasn't actually a balloon at all, and there was no way that these carnival darts could pop it.

"Hey!" Takaki exclaimed, pointing indignantly. "That one can't be popped! This game is rigged."

"Of course it is." The man said cheerily, not even bothering to deny the fact, handing over a small hot pink stuffed animal gorilla. "Here is your prize! Congratulations."

Takaki almost didn't take the toy, having to remind himself a few more times that he was a twenty-four year old man. Not wanting to fight the man over a stupid idea of Inoo's, Takaki returned haughtily to his friends.

"I'm not giving Chinen this." He said flatly, both Inoo and Daiki bursting into giggles as they saw what Takaki had come back with. "This was a stupid idea."

"Well, I didn't think you would suck at it." Inoo said through giggles and breaths.

"I didn't! It's rigged! The man even told me so!"

Obviously, they didn't believe him. "If you're not going to give it to him, what are you going to do with it?" Daiki asked. "It's still an ugly pink gorilla toy. He might like it."

His friend had a point. He might as well at least try to give the thing to Chinen. So Takaki walked up to Chinen, putting an arm around the smaller man's shoulders.

"I just got this for fun, but I don't want it. You can have it if you want." It was partially true, but really mostly embarrassing. Before Chinen could deny the toy, Takaki stuffed under his arm. "Here."

"Oh, uh... Thanks." The smile on Chinen's face seemed genuine, and suddenly Takaki didn't regret winning the toy after all.

But then he looked over in time to see Ryutaro proudly handing over a huge, rather adorable stuffed animal tiger to a blushing Keito.

Great. That was just great.

After riding a few more rides, they all decided that they were tired of riding extreme machines and walking through crowds. Yuto thanked them again and again, and they said their goodbyes.

The motorcycle ride home didn't take nearly as much coaxing as the one to the park had taken, so Takaki felt they had managed to get home rather quickly. They barely had stepped inside the door, however, when Takaki for a phone call.

"Who is it?" Chinen asked as Takaki pulled the phone from his pocket.

"Daiki."

"What do you want?" Takaki asked as he answered.

"We're all going to hit up Hikaru's ramen stand later tonight, you in?"

"Everybody?"

"Yeah. Everybody that was at the amusement park today. It'll be fun."

"Will he serve us for free?" Takaki asked, raising an eyebrow. If so, they were definitely going. As Inoo had said, there was nothing cheaper than a free thing.

"C'mon. Don't be stingy."

Takaki sighed. "Fine. Let me ask Chinen."

So Takaki did, Chinen agreeing readily to the idea. They decided on heading over at eight. It really was a good idea, and though Takaki ended up being mercilessly teased--discreetly--by everybody about his newfound crush, it was a fun end to a fun day.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic is so old i'm cringing so hard

The week that followed was nothing but awkward for Takaki. It had been easy to be around Chinen with everyone else, but now it was just him, Chinen, and Ryutaro around the house. Coming to terms with the fact that yes, he liked Chinen, he liked Chinen a lot, made it difficult for Takaki to not stare at Chinen across the dinner table, to not cuddle up to Chinen once he had fallen asleep and curl him up in his arms, to not feel like an idiot after saying just about anything. So he tried not to say anything at all.

Luckily, because Ryutaro was around, Chinen didn't seem to notice. It was relieving and disappointing at the same time, and eventually Takaki got so tired of not talking to Chinen that the rest of the band members got tired of him being tired.

"I liked Daiki for what, nearly a year? You can deal with it. You'll be fine." Inoo was saying when Takaki called him the fifth time that week to complain. "Or, I don't know, you could just tell him."

"No." Takaki said. "No. Definitely no way."

"C'mon! I did it. It's really not that bad."

That was a lie, and Takaki knew that Inoo knew the truth.

"Just... Just tell him, alright? If I can do it, you can. I mean, of course, it's really, really terrible and you feel this gross twisting sensation the entire time they're in front of you, like you're going to throw up, or accidentally swallow your tongue, or something equally disastrous."

Takaki pulled a face. Swallow his tongue? Couldn't that kill him, or something? "That doesn't sound like anything I'm interested in doing."

"What else are you going to do? Ryutaro isn't going to be around forever, so sooner or later he's going to realize how weird you're being. Everybody knows you miss talking to him."

"But..."

"You already know he likes you! You have nothing to lose."

"What if he just liked me in the past, and doesn't like me anymore?"

Takaki could almost hear Inoo's unamused expression in the silence that followed.

"There's only one way to find out."

"Ask Ryutaro about it?" Takaki guessed.

"No, you idiot! Confess your feelings! Just go for it. As long as you don't do anything stupid, you should be fine."

In all honesty, Inoo was right, and Takaki knew that.

"...fine."

"Yes! Good." Inoo was much too happy with himself for Takaki's liking. "You'd better call me back soon, with results."

Takaki hung up, not bothering to say goodbye, putting his phone down on the kitchen counter and looking into the living room. Chinen and Ryutaro were in there, the younger friend sitting on the couch and talking while Chinen spun in circles on the rug, up on the ball of his left foot, arms comfortably at his sides. Takaki waited until there was a lull in conversation, then seized his chance.

"Hey, Chinen?" He called. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Chinen turned as soon as Takaki said his name, seemingly a bit confused but nodding in consent to his request and heading over. As soon as they were alone Chinen gave him an expectant, questioning look, and Takaki felt that stomach-churning, tongue-swallowing sensation that Inoo had been talking about. It completely choked off his words, and after a few more moments of silence Chinen asked,

"So? What is it?"

"I... Well, uh..." Confessing with words, evidently, was hopeless. But he had to do this, deciding on the quickest and easiest way he knew how.

Takaki took a breath, gathered every bit of courage inside him that he could find, and stooped to place a kiss on Chinen's lips.

Takaki had expected Chinen to shy away, or freeze up, or even pull back and hit him but Chinen didn't do any of those things; instead he relaxed, lifting up on his toes to prolong the contact as Takaki pulled away. Then they looked at each other, silence between them, Takaki unsure if he should speak. Internally though, he felt a breath of relief. That seemed to have gone well.

Which was why he was so surprised when Chinen's eyes began narrowing, sounding almost angry when he spoke.

"What the _hell _was that?" He asked.

"...what?" Takaki asked back. The gross feeling of nervousness had returned, ropes snaking their way through Takaki's chest and constricting.

"You just kissed me." Chinen said. Takaki nodded.

"Why?"

Why? Wasn't it obvious? Chinen was wide eyed and confused, Inoo's advice drifting back to him. _As long as you don't do anything stupid, you should be fine._

Did this qualify as stupid?

"I... Well, I like you."

Chinen paused for a moment, as if considering the statement.

"You like me?"

Takaki nodded.

"So you decide to just kiss me out of nowhere?" Even after getting a confession, Chinen still sounded frustrated, making Takaki feel quite defensive.

"Is there something wrong with that?" He asked. "A kiss means someone really likes you, right?"

"Not if you don't know that's what it's supposed to mean! Were you planning on even asking me on a date, or anything?" Chinen had raised his voice, the two practically shouting at each other in the kitchen.

A date. Oh. Takaki hadn't even thought of that.

"I... Maybe I will!"

"Good!" They were both definitely worked up now, Chinen's hands on his hips, eyebrows raised.

"Would you like to go see a movie, or something, with me next weekend?" Takaki asked, loud and frustrated.

"Fine!"

The meaning of the words and the tone with which they were said were so contrasting that after staring at each other for a few seconds, they both broke into smiles, then giggles.

"We're stupid." Chinen said, looking up at Takaki and smiling.

"No, I'm stupid." Takaki countered. "Even Inoo said so. Really though, a movie this weekend?"

"Yeah." Chinen nodded, and after another shared smile, the younger left the kitchen. Takaki couldn't keep the grin off his face.

"So." Inoo began excitedly, closing the clasps on his keyboard case. Rehearsal had ended and pack up was coming to a close. "Guess what Takaki did."

"Do we care?" Hikaru asked playfully.

"Fine." Takaki said, giving the bassist an extremely exaggerated pout. "I won't tell you guys."

Inoo, apparently, did not share Takaki's sentiment, his words coming out in an excited rush.

"Takaki confessed to Chinen."

"...what?!" Daiki nearly shouted the exclamation. Yuto looked as though he was going into shock.

"We thought it would take at least a month for you to do something." Yabu said. "But a week?"

Takaki just shrugged, smiling proudly.

"So?" Yuto finally prompted. "How did it go?"

"I haven't heard this part either." Inoo said, looking at Takaki excitedly.

"Well..." Takaki rubbed the back of his neck, thinking back to the event and wondering how to summarize it. "I kind of... I kissed him and he yelled at me."

"Takaki!" Inoo's reaction wasn't immediate--he had to let the shock of the statement settle in. "All you had to do was not do anything stupid, and what do you do? Something stupid!"

"I don't know how stupid it was, because I have a date tomorrow."

It took another second for that statement to sink in as well.

"Don't scare us like that." Yuto whined.

"So?" Hikaru asked with a smile. "Are you nervous?"

"Not really." Takaki answered after a moment of consideration. "It's just Chinen."

"Just Chinen?" Inoo echoed. "Do you have any idea how nervous I was when I had my first date with Daiki?"

"I've lived with Chinen for a while, that's all. Plus, I've been thinking. Crazy, I know," he said, acknowledging Daiki's look of mock surprise. "I've come up with a few things to do. So I'm a little prepared."

"Like what?"

Takaki was surprised that his friends were actually interested.

"Well, the first problem is that we live in the same house. I didn't want us awkwardly getting ready next to each other and then waiting around until we decided it was time to leave, so I'm going to bring some clothes and go over to Daiki's and change there, and then go pick him up."

"Hey, wait." Daiki narrowed his eyebrows. "You never asked me about this. Were you just going to show up tomorrow, without telling me?"

Takaki nodded. "Is that a problem?"

"Just because you know that I keep my spare apartment key under the welcome mat doesn't mean you can stroll in whenever you want." Daiki said, arms crossed, looking disgruntled.

"Actually..." Yuto said after a moment of thought. "Yeah, it kind of does."

"Anyway, I'm going to do that, and then I'm going to pay for his movie ticket. Not because I have more money than he does, but because he's Chinen and he likes being doted on. Which is why after the date, I'm going to buy him ice cream, too. We'll probably go home after that. So I'll drop him of, go back to Daiki's and put on the pajamas that I'll leave there, and pick up dinner on the way home."

Daiki heaved a sigh.

"We'll have the Sailor Moon marathon another night." Inoo said, patting Daiki's arm. "It's okay."

"That's why you're upset?" Takaki asked. At Daiki's reluctant nod, he burst out laughing.

Takaki ended up letting time get away from him, and when he was finally ready to pick up Chinen there was only thirty minutes until the movie was supposed to start. Considering how long it would take to get there, especially when driving as slow as he tried to do when Chinen was riding along, he realized that they were probably going to be late.

Chinen almost seemed surprised to see him when he answered the door.

"You ready to go?"

"Are we on our date now?" Chinen whispered the question, and Takaki smiled. He was adorable.

"Of course. I'm here to pick you up."

"Let's go."

As Takaki suspected, they were late, but the lady selling tickets at the movie theater let them in anyway. Chinen wasn't angry about their tardiness; he seemed quite amused by the situation instead, Takaki laughing with him as the hurried down the hallway and into the movie.

"You don't mind missing the previews, right?" Takaki had to ask. Thankfully, Chinen shook his head, and they settled in.

No matter how much Takaki wanted to, he knew better than to awkwardly place his arm around Chinen's shoulders. Instead, he cheered internally every time Chinen laughed when something funny happened, showing that he enjoyed what he was watching. It had been Takaki's responsibility to pick the movie, and though he was afraid that an action comedy might be too dumb for Chinen's tastes, it seemed like he enjoyed it.

"That was fun." Takaki declared, stretching as they exited the theater. Takaki had actually enjoyed the movie himself, and Chinen seemed to agree, if the younger man's nod was anything to go by.

"What do you want to do now?" Chinen asked.

It took Takaki a few moments of nearly frantic thinking--what would Chinen want to do?--before he remembered. Ice cream.

His proposition of going to get some wasn't so readily accepted, Chinen's logic standing in the way.

"But we haven't had dinner yet. You'll ruin your appetite."

"So?" Logic wasn't important when it came to ice cream. As least, not in Takaki's mind.

"You'll ruin _my _appetite." Chinen tried again.

"So?" Takaki took a breath and reached down, taking hold of Chinen's hand, disguising the action as an insistent tug down the street. "C'mon. My treat."

Chinen didn't object further after that, trying to act annoyed, but Takaki could tell he wasn't really upset by the notion of ice cream, especially by how excitedly he ordered what he wanted.

"Wait. Let me get this straight." Ice cream now in their free hands, they were making their way back to the parking lot. Takaki was trying to explain a complicated idea about the movie he had managed to formulate. Chinen was having a hard time following. "You think that the protagonist is actually the antagonist, that half of it was a dream, and that all of the supporting characters didn't actually exist?"

Takaki nodded proudly. Chinen could barely finish his ice cream, he was laughing so hard. But he did finish it, and they got on the motorcycle and went home. Takaki was eager for the date to end, not because he wasn't enjoying himself, but because he wanted to hear, honestly, what Chinen had thought of the whole thing. So, after walking Chinen to his front door and saying a few words, Takaki sped off to Daiki's.

"How did it go?" Daiki asked. He and Inoo were curled up together on the couch. Judging by the television screen, they were going to have their Sailor Moon marathon anyway, despite Takaki's interruptions.

"Well, I think." Takaki answered. "He enjoyed the movie, nothing terrible happened..."

"Did you kiss him?" Inoo asked. "Hold his hand? Details!"

Takaki relayed the date quickly as he changed from jeans to pajama bottoms, and as soon as he was finished speaking a loud text tone punctuated the end of his last sentence.

"Chinen texted me." Inoo said, reading the message out loud. "Date was very nice but short. He went somewhere and I already miss him."

Takaki couldn't help but smile at that news. Daiki smiled too, nodding towards the door.

"Go home, Takaki."

Takaki nodded and said farewell to his friends, grabbing the fastest thing he could think of for dinner---pizza--and going home as quickly as he could, nearly breaking the speed limit in the process.

"Hey." Takaki said as he entered. Chinen was sitting cross-legged on the couch, phone in hand. "I'm home, and I brought dinner. Hungry?"

"I just had some ice cream." Chinen answered, shaking his head.

"Ice cream?" Takaki put the pizza box down and sat on the couch, raising an eyebrow in Chinen's direction. "You shouldn't eat ice cream before dinner, or you'll ruin your appetite."

Takaki thought he was being quite hilarious, but at the glance he received, he wasn't sure Chinen agreed. The younger man caught on to what he was doing, however, saying,

"That's exactly what I said, but my date was rather insistent."

"A date? How was that?"

"Better than I expected." A mix of elation and triumph rose in Takaki's chest at the answer. He had not only met Chinen's expectations, but raised above them as well.

"Though I shouldn't have been surprised." Chinen continued. "I've really liked this guy for a while and he's good at making me happy, so of course I had fun."

Takaki decided to look away from Chinen, staring at his lap instead in an attempt to hide the fact that he was smiling like an idiot. Because really, he had the dumbest grin on his face, and there was nothing at all he could do about it.

Finally though, he managed to get his expression under control, speaking up.

"I had a date today too. And this guy..." How to describe Chinen to himself? Takaki decided to stay simple. "He's the cutest guy I've ever seen. He's even cuter than you, I bet."

Chinen stuck his tongue out in defiance to Takaki's statement, making him chuckle a bit before continuing.

"At first I wasn't sure about him because we were put into this weird situation, and even after he confessed to me I--"

Takaki's monologue of how he had felt about Chinen over the last few months was cut short by a confused exclamation.

"I-- I mean, _he _did what? When?"

So Takaki had been right. Chinen had never noticed, the night that they played video games, all of what he ended up blurting out.

"This one night when he was really upset about school. He had exams and a dance recital coming up, and he just ranted at me a little bit."

Recollection of the conversation Takaki was talking about began dawning on Chinen's face, mixed with a very obvious embarrassment, making Takaki smile into his next words.

"But apparently, he didn't notice what he said."

Chinen was blushing down into his lap, Takaki still rather amused as he finished speaking.

"Anyways, I didn't really start having feelings until I saw him dancing. It's something he's really spectacular at."

That made Chinen smile but it wasn't why Takaki said it; he said it because it was completely true. Though he had realized his feelings for Chinen the week previously, after a bit of self reflection he noticed that really, the crush had budded back at the dance recital, watching the way Chinen danced and enjoying his reaction to the compliment Takaki gave him.

"Was your date good too?" Chinen asked after a few moments. Takaki couldn't nod fast enough.

"I managed to find a way to hold his hand without being awkward, so I'm pretty proud of myself."

"Congratulations." Chinen said with a laugh. "I do have one complaint about my date though."

Oh no. Oh no. Takaki began wracking his brain for something that he did wrong, when and where he'd messed up.

"It wasn't my date's fault. It was mine."

The relief that Takaki felt when Chinen said that was stronger than he thought it would be, asking,

"What was it?"

"I never got the chance to kiss him. I wanted to, but it never felt like the right time. I don't know. I just really would have liked that."

A strange, good, nervous feeling filled Takaki's chest at those words. He had put kissing Chinen completely out of his mind for their date simply because of what had happened the first time, not too keen on getting yelled at in the middle of a movie theater. But if Chinen _wanted _to be kissed, then...

"Well, I'm sure he would have really liked that too."

Then Chinen ended their game of talking about each other to each other by leaning over and kissing him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i'm eMBARRASSED

That kiss, along with all of the other kisses Chinen gave him, from short playful ones and sweet goodnight ones, were perfect. Chinen was perfect, and Takaki was falling faster and harder than he had ever intended. It was the way Chinen would grumble around in the mornings, half awake and rather annoyed about it; the text messages he would send Takaki during class, about being bored and insisting on being kidnapped; how he would snuggle himself as close to Takaki as was physically possible at the end of the day, both getting drowsy in front of the television. It was incredible, really, how happy he discovered that Chinen could make him; life was just so much better with the younger man tucked under his arm. He couldn't help but notice that Chinen seemed to feel the same way he did, which might have been the contributing factor to the fact that Ryutaro was grudgingly warming up to him.

The tall teenager was still around the house a lot, with or without Keito, simply for the sake of being there, but he didn't shoot Takaki as many dagger-filled looks as he used to. If Takaki was lucky, Ryutaro would even laugh at a few of his jokes. More surprising, though, was how quickly the band and Ryutaro warmed up to each other. The younger got on surprisingly well with Yabu and Inoo in particular, and in Ryutaro, Daiki found someone he could yell nonsensical things at and get an equally loud and nonsensical response.

Whenever the band found that they had more time for a practice than usual they wouldn't meet up in the garage, going instead to Keito's house, occasionally with a few significant others as well. They had decided to take on the momentous task of recording some of their songs, not quite sure why or what they were going to do with them, but wanting to try it anyway. Keito had a room in his house with a large amount of recording equipment, giving them the permission to use it if and when they had time. He hadn't used it much, Keito said, only really during jam sessions with Yuto, and they were all really grateful for him letting them use the equipment.

Recording music, Takaki found, was difficult. He had to sing the same line over and over until it was up to his standards, and then even more until it was up to the standards of everyone else. Daiki began playing with the sound board as they recorded to entertain himself, and ended up finding ways to put parts and sounds together that the rest of the band had never even considered before. It was really cool.

While Takaki was just learning about recording and arranging, he was becoming a professional in an art he was already quite good at: avoiding his mother.

He had nearly completely forgotten about the divorce offer he had been given but she, however, had not. Though he still hadn't been able to reach any sort of decision on the matter, she had decided that he was done thinking about it and was now calling him nearly every day for an answer. He hit the decline button every time, dodging Chinen's questions about the constant phone calls. In a way, trying to decide whether or not to get divorced to Chinen was even harder now that they were in a relationship. They had just barely started dating, so thinking that really, he was actually married to the younger made the commitment-issue side of him flare up and feel panicked. What if the relationship somehow ended up going badly, and they were still stuck together? What if it went extremely well and Takaki felt that he really did want to be married Chinen, would they have an entirely new ceremony? It was so much to consider, and Takaki didn't like thinking about it so he simply didn't, hoping the phone calls would just stop coming. Eventually though, his mother refused to be ignored any longer.

Takaki nearly threw his phone across the room when it went off for the third time that day, only stopping when he saw that the caller ID said "Goofball" instead of "Mama."

"Hey Hikaru, what's up?"

"I just thought you might want to know that I... Um..."

The smile in Hikaru's voice was so incredibly prominent that Takaki could barely understand the actual words coming out of his mouth, his friend pulling back from the receiver to give a light chuckle.

"What is it?" Takaki asked.

"Well, I... I proposed to Yabu, and... He said yes."

It took a second of silence for the weight of the statement to sink in.

"You're getting married?!"

There was a pause, then a long breath out as Hikaru responded. "Yeah."

"Congratulations! Finally." Takaki tacked on. He felt like Hikaru and Yabu had been dating since the beginning of time, but the fact that they were tying the knot was still terribly exciting. "Now we have to have a party."

"That's exactly what Inoo said. You're not shrieking at me as much as Inoo shrieked at Yabu, so my eardrums thank you for that."

Hikaru and Yabu were engaged. Engaged. That was so, extremely fantastic; Takaki couldn't keep the smile off his face.

"That's really, really great Hikaru. You guys are perfect together."

"Thanks." Hikaru responded earnestly. Then, a few seconds later, "Yeah, we are. I know."

Takaki laughed at that, Hikaru saying,

"Hey, I've got to call my sister. I just thought you'd want to know."

"Of course."

They said their goodbyes, Hikaru hanging up first. As soon as Takaki set his phone down though, it rang again.

"Who--?"

"Takaki! Hikaru and Yabu!"

Takaki had to hold the receiver away from his ear, wincing. It was Inoo.

"Yeah, I know. Hikaru just called me."

"So, I was thinking we could hold the engagement party at your house because it's bigger than Daiki's apartment and we don't want to bother Yuto's family any more than we already do, and we should definitely get them presents--they _need _a new coffee maker--and--"

"Woah. Woah. Slow down." Inoo was talking way too fast. "When did you think of all of this? Didn't they just now call you?"

"Yeah, about thirty seconds ago."

Takaki sighed, but he really couldn't blame Inoo for being this excited. "Sure Inoo, we can have the party here. Thanks for asking me."

Inoo giggled at his dry tone of voice. But both Inoo and Daiki were full of good ideas, and thanks to that they managed to get all of their plans solidified by Friday night, Inoo sending out the text invite for the Super Exciting Engagement Party at Takaki and Chinen's for Saturday afternoon. What Takaki hadn't anticipated, however, was all of the decoration that would have to go into this event, waking up to a heavy weight on his chest, opening his eyes to see Inoo peering down at him.

"What the hell...?" He asked, confused and annoyed. "Inoo, why are you sitting on me? How did you get in here?"

"You guys are sleeping in the same bed already?" Inoo asked in a loud whisper, one eyebrow raised, tilting his head in Chinen's direction.

"Shut up." Takaki grumbled. "Stop thinking weird things and go away."

He rolled over, successfully dislodging his friend and looping an arm around Chinen's waist, trying to get comfortable in his new position.

"But we need to decorate the house!" Inoo hissed, trying to keep his voice low for Chinen's sake. "There are balloons and streamers and--"

"Inoo!" Came a call from the living room. It was Daiki's voice. "Should Yamada and I start making the cake now?"

Takaki groaned. "How many people are here?" He asked. It was too early in the morning for company.

Inoo didn't answer, this time Ryutaro's voice ringing out "Where are the band aids?"

Ryutaro was here?

_Ryutaro was here._

Takaki all but leapt out of bed, trying to slap himself awake, Inoo looking at him like he had just grown two extra heads.

"Takaki, what--"

The bedroom door opened, Ryutaro talking as he entered. "Chinen, Keito gave himself a paper cut on a streamer, are there any..." He trailed off at the sight of Chinen, still asleep, an obviously just-woken Takaki, and the messy bed sheets, easily putting the pieces together.

"You're supposed to be sleeping on the couch." He said slowly. Takaki's life began to flash before his eyes, the situation only made worse by Inoo speaking up.

"C'mon Ryutaro, they've been dating for what, three months now? That's plenty of time for them to decide that they might want to--"

"Nothing happened! Nothing has ever happened!"

Takaki's vehement denials woke Chinen up, who blinked blearily around the room.

"Ryu? Inoo...?"

"Morning!" Inoo exclaimed excitedly. "Would you like to blow up some balloons?"

Chinen still looked preciously confused, Takaki helping.

"Engagement party." He explained. Chinen's mouth formed a small 'o' and he sat up.

"Sure. Let me get dressed first."

Ryutaro's eyes were on Takaki again, narrowed and angry, Chinen catching the look and saying,

"Out of my pajamas and into some jeans, Ryutaro."

By the time both Takaki and Chinen were dressed and awake, there were a considerable amount of streamers hanging from the ceiling and a rather impressive mess forming in the kitchen. By the time that mess had been cleaned up and a cake was sitting, proudly iced, on the kitchen counter, it was time for their guests to arrive. Everyone got confetti in their hands, waiting by the door. There was a knock not long after, Yamada bounding forward and letting the guests of honor in, everyone else showering them in the confetti they had been holding. Hikaru and Yabu let out surprised exclamations and laughs, looking around at everything.

"The ring! I want to see the ring!" Inoo exclaimed as soon as the door was closed behind them. Yabu was all too happy to show it off, excited smile on his face, Yuto letting out a shout as soon as he saw it.

The ring really was quite nice, unlike many of the male rings that Takaki had previously seen; it wasn't as thick and bulky, more slender, with a prominent, sparkling jewel in the center.

"Nice job Hikaru, it looks great." Takaki had to say, giving his friend a thumbs up over the people all crowded around Yabu's hand. Hikaru smiled back, extremely happy and proud, making a smile cross Takaki's face as well.

They all settled and sat around the living room, Takaki sitting next to Chinen and putting an arm around his shoulders. Yamada and Daiki dramatically brought the cake out, quite proud of their creation, and once everyone had a piece and a fork to eat it with, Chinen spoke up.

"How did you propose, Hikaru?"

All eyes went to the couple squished into the large armchair together, eager to hear the story. Hikaru opened his mouth to begin.

"Well, um... Tuesday was our anniversary, right? Ten years."

Daiki whistled at the number, making Hikaru close his mouth in an embarrassed smile.

"I'd actually been wanting to propose to him for a while, but I didn't really know how or when. By the time I had the date figured out, I had told Daiki about it."

Indignant shouts, all directed at Daiki, filled the room.

"You knew? And you didn't say anything?" Inoo was especially disbelieving.

"You can't keep secrets!" Daiki protested, equally defensive. "Yabu would have found out a day after we went to the amusement park. Hikaru wasn't ready to buy the ring yet."

"Is that why we all went out to Hikaru's for ramen?" Keito asked. Takaki was impressed--he wouldn't have been able to put two and two together like that--but Daiki nodded.

"You'd been planning for that long?" Ryutaro sounded impressed. Hikaru shrugged.

"You told me about wanting to get married too." Chinen piped up. "The first time we met, remember?"

It took a moment for Hikaru's face to light up with recollection. "Right! I'd already began saving money at that point, I think."

Yabu looked like the rest of them did, as though all of this information was as new of news as it was to everyone else. It probably was.

"Anyway," Remembering the original question, Hikaru resumed his story. "The night before I barely got any sleep, and so I didn't get to see much of Kota before he went off to school--and yes, he did go to school on our anniversary--"

"I'm sorry!" Yabu exclaimed. "I had a test! How was I supposed to know you were going to... To do all of that?"

"Inoo said something about a middle school when he was texting me." Daiki spoke up. "That needs a little explanation."

"Angel face." Chinen muttered from under Takaki's arm. Instead of giving insight about the seemingly random statement, the younger man just giggled as Daiki whirled to look at him, glaring.

"Middle school, right..." Hikaru collected his thoughts for a moment. "I packed a picnic-type dinner and, with permission from the principal, we went down to the middle school that we first met at."

The large amount of cooing that met the statement had Hikaru pink all the way up to his ears, Yabu up starting where his boyfriend--fiancé-- had left off.

"First we stopped at the first place he had seen me, which is a completely ridiculous thing to be able to remember." How much Yabu was smiling contradicted his statement, the older man obviously extremely pleased. "Then we went to one of our old classrooms, where we were the first time we talked to each other."

This anniversary gift was so amazingly romantic that Takaki felt that his heart might be melting all over the floor. However, Yabu wasn't done, smile still there as he continued.

"We had dinner where we always ate lunch together, and then he took me to where he confessed to me our second year of middle school, and, well..." Yabu paused and swallowed and tightened his grip on Hikaru's hand, physical contact that had been constant since the two had walked through the door together. The next words came out croaky, Yabu smiling and ducking his head as he spoke.

"He asked me to marry him."

"Oi, stop crying!" Takaki exclaimed, making laughter chorus around the room. Sure enough, when Yabu looked up to give him a playful glare, his eyes were watery.

"This is nothing, you should have seen him Tuesday." Hikaru said with a grin, wiping his thumb across one of his fiancé's cheeks.

"Shut up!" Yabu protested loudly, trying to combat the affectionate laughter in the room, but even Hikaru was chuckling at him.

"How come you didn't tell anyone until Thursday?" Yuto wanted to know. "Some of your best friends getting engaged is something pretty important, you know."

"They were probably too busy having sex all day." Inoo said flippantly, waving his hand. Keito immediately choked on his drink, the coughing only escalating when there were no denials to Inoo's statement, only a shrug and small smile from the engaged pair.

"Oh god, just take the presents and get out, you disgusting animals."

Inoo and Daiki threw the lighter gift-wrapped boxes at them, Takaki getting up and presenting the heaviest present himself, so it wouldn't get broken. Yabu opened that one first.

"Oh my god, you guys are the best."

It was a coffee maker, shiny and new. Along with it came a few cookbooks--"So you guys can eat something that isn't ramen for once,"--and a box of assorted cookies. Yuto cut off Hikaru and Yabu's "thank you"s, standing and raising his glass in the air.

"To the two most perfect, most made for each other, most in love people I have ever seen. To two soul mates. To Hikaru and Yabu!"

They all cheered, clinking their glasses at the end of the sudden toast. Daiki looked like he also wanted to speak, cut off by a knock in the door. The entire living room fell silent.

"Did you invite someone else?" Takaki asked Inoo. He had been in charge of texting the guests. But Inoo shook his head, walking up to the door and answering it.

Behind the door was a man in a suit, holding a manila folder.

"Is Takaki Yuya here?"

As everyone looked at Takaki, Takaki looking at the man in the doorway. He didn't recognize him, but he had the sickening feeling that anyone in a business suit that wanted to talk to him probably had something to do with his mother. His suspicion was confirmed as the man placed the folder firmly in his hands and said,

"Your mother told me that since you've been ignoring her calls, I had to place this in your hands directly. Please return the forms within a week's time, or she will consider your response to be a less than polite 'no, thank you'."

A rude "no thank you"? Forms?

"I'm sorry, but what is this?" Takaki had to ask. His mother had never asked him to fill out paperwork before, what did she want this time?

The man seemed surprised that he was asking.

"The official documents for your divorce with Chinen Yuri." He answered.

Oh. _Oh. Oh no._

Takaki heard Inoo take in a sharp, disbelieving breath next to him, the man in the doorway excusing himself and leaving.

"Takaki?"

Takaki didn't want to turn, knowing exactly, by Chinen's tone of voice, what his face was going to look like. At least, he thought he did. Nothing could have prepared him for what was actually there.

It was confusion, hurt, shock; almost every negative and helpless emotion mixed together, and knowing that he was the cause of that expression made Takaki want to bury himself alive.

"Chinen--"

He didn't know what he wanted to say--an explanation, an apology--but he didn't have the chance to find out, Chinen immediately running from the room.

Ryutaro sprang to his feet, and right before Takaki realized what was happening, Yamada jumped up as well, grabbing the teenager by the arms and pulling him in the direction Chinen had gone.

"Takaki, you need to do something." Daiki said. "Not only did you almost just get hit in the face, the fact that you're at an engagement party holding divorce papers right now is--"

"I didn't ask for them! I don't want these!" The exclamation took even him by surprise, the folder falling to the floor. "I don't want these. I don't want a divorce."

"I don't know why you're telling us this." Hikaru said, pointing in the direction that Chinen, Ryutaro, and Yamada had all gone. Takaki got the hint, rushing down the hallway.

"Chinen?" He knocked on the door, not sure if he should go inside. "I need to talk to you."

"Go away." Takaki could tell by those two words alone that Chinen was crying, and he cursed under his breath. He had to go in there.

"Chinen, please."

"He said go away." That voice was Ryutaro's, abrupt and angry. For the first time though, Takaki wasn't afraid of Ryutaro hitting him. He more felt that he deserved it.

"At least let me in there so you can hit me."

After what felt like an eternity of silence on the other side of the door, Takaki decided to speak up again.

"Chinen, listen. I--"

"The band is performing tonight, aren't they? Don't you have somewhere to be?" The questions were crisp and very to the point. Chinen wasn't going to listen to him, at least right now. The last thing Takaki wanted was to make Chinen more upset, so he decided that giving him time was better than continuing to bother him, going back to the living room. How bright and colorful the room was now seemed highly ironic.

"Well?" Yabu asked. "Inoo called the bar--we don't have to go perform tonight."

"He won't listen to me." Takaki said, sitting resignedly on the couch. "I didn't get to say anything, but I didn't want to make him mad, so... I'm leaving him alone for a while." He sighed. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Wait until he's ready to talk, and don't let Ryutaro shank you in the process." Daiki answered with a shrug. "What else is there?"

"Well, you could have talked to Chinen about it beforehand at least." Hikaru said, Takaki giving him an unamused look. "At least make sure he knows you're not going to break up with him, because that's probably what he's thinking right now."

It hadn't even occurred to Takaki that the status of their marriage and their actual relationship were seen as the same thing. He had always kept them separate in his mind, but Hikaru did have a point. He leaned back on the couch.

"Sorry I ruined the party." He said. Yabu shrugged.

"We celebrated enough yesterday. If we're not going and performing though, I should get a head start on my school work." The lanky man stood, Hikaru getting up with him. They both bade him good luck, hugging him and going on their way. The others took it as their cue to leave as well, Yuto and Keito going together to retrieve their boyfriends.

Ryutaro didn't say anything, shoving past Takaki roughly, but Yamada was more sympathetic.

"I told him to try and talk to you, but I'm not sure if he was listening." Yamada said with a shrug. "He's... He's just really upset right now."

Takaki nodded. He knew that much. "Thanks."

Nodding, they filed out last, and Takaki was left alone in a room filled with confetti, streamers, and cake, feeling sick to his stomach.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lowkey hate this chapter BUT the ending scene is pretty good I guess bc as far as last lines go this one isn't half bad. I hope you enjoyed this 2009 cliche disaster anyway!

The days that followed reminded Takaki of when they had first gotten married and were living together, except this time Takaki was the one being ignored. He was trying to take Daiki's advice--"Wait until he's ready to talk"--but the opportunity never presented itself. Chinen was always in his room with the door closed, and Takaki didn't like waiting in silence, usually going to someone's place to lament about how much life sucked before coming home with dinner. Chinen's door never opened.

What seemed to make it worse was that no one else's life sucked. Hikaru and Yabu were still over the moon about being engaged. Inoo had accidentally told Daiki he loved him and consequently panicked about it, but Daiki had responded with such affection that it had taken Inoo nearly an hour to give Takaki a play-by-play. Yamada and Yuto were sporting couple rings, and while Takaki was too afraid to stop by Keito's, he was sure he and Ryutaro were doing just fine as well.

It was nearly a week before Chinen spoke to him again. Takaki was sitting at the kitchen table, trying to find the best way to tell his mother that he definitely did not want a divorce, thank you very much, when Chinen came home from class, took off his shoes, and asked

"Wondering how to ask me to sign them?"

Takaki hadn't expected a question like that. He tried not to react to the fact that Chinen had finally spoken to him, trying to be normal, but a smile still made its way to his face.

"I was thinking of the best way to destroy them, actually. I was considering setting them on fire, but that seems like it could be rather risky. So, what do you think: simply ripping them to shreds or putting them in the blender and just seeing what happens?"

"I..." Chinen was giving him an expression that was somewhere between confusion and his Takaki-is-an-idiot face. "What?"

"Unless you wanted to sign them. In that case, we would have to get into an argument and go to couple's counseling, because I'm not letting you go that easily."

"I don't understand." Chinen said. Takaki tried to be as plain as possible.

"I would like for my mother to consider my response to her offer as a less than polite 'no thank you'."

Finally, Chinen understood what he was getting at, a small smile growing on his face.

"You... You don't want to divorce me?"

Takaki answered with a shake of his head.

"I tried to tell you that last week," he said, "but you wouldn't listen. I've been trying to wait until you were willing to talk, so I wouldn't make you angry, but the chance never came up... I should have told you when it happened that my mother had offered a divorce to me, and for that I'm really, really sorry." The apology came out exactly as he rehearsed it, finishing with "But for what it's worth, I never asked her to send these to me."

Chinen didn't look happy or excited, as Takaki hoped he might; instead, his expression was very fragile, making Takaki quite concerned. He stood from his chair and put a hand on Chinen's shoulder.

"You okay?"

He got a playfully annoyed glance in response.

"Of course I am, you idiot."

Takaki had to laugh at that.

"Does this mean we didn't break up?"

Chinen's question both surprised and confused him. "When did we break up?"

As soon as the question was out of his mouth, Chinen was pulling him in for a hug. How much he had missed Chinen crashed into him like a wave and he scooped the younger man off his feet.

"Wow, I really missed you."

Then Chinen kissed him and Takaki held him even tighter, pulling him as close as he could. Feeling the need to enforce his apology, Takaki brought his lips from Chinen's to the soft skin under Chinen's jaw. There were light vibrations against his lips from Chinen giggling, Takaki pulling back to look at him, wondering what was so amusing.

Chinen didn't answer his unasked question, just shaking his head and nuzzling in closer, Takaki promising himself that he would never do anything to make the precious man in his arms upset ever, ever again.

"I'm guessing by the hickey on your neck that you and Chinen have reconciled things?" Hikaru asked Takaki dryly, once they had finished performing that Saturday, in the middle of packing up. Takaki turned pink, clamping a hand over the red bruise.

"Hey man, I'm not judging you." Inoo said, putting his hands up defensively. "Hickeys are great."

That did absolutely nothing for Takaki's embarrassment, but he answered Hikaru's question anyway.

"Uh... Yeah. Everything is fine. Everything is fantastic, actually." It really, really was. Being that distanced from Chinen for that long made Takaki realize that he never wanted to do anything like that ever again. The entire band was smiling at him now, so he looked at the ground and gave a sheepish laugh.

"So?" Yuto singsonged. "What are you giving Chinen for his birthday?"

"What?" Takaki asked back, head jolting up. He knew that Chinen's birthday was coming up, because they were well into November by now, but all of the engagement-divorce stuff had happened and he ended up losing track of time. "What day is today?"

"The twenty-ninth." Yabu said helpfully, checking his phone for clarification.

"His birthday is tomorrow!" Takaki exclaimed. The universe was out to get him, he decided.

"Did you forget?" Inoo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No! I know what day it is and everything, but then all the everything happened at once and I just..."

"And you just forgot." Hikaru finished for him. "We have kind of been planning a party at Daiki's, if you'd like to take advantage of our kindness for the hundredth time in your life and have some of the credit."

"That would be awesome, you guys are lifesavers."

The complete disregard for his condensing tone made Hikaru laugh, and once it was established that Takaki was the buyer and bringer of the cake, they finished putting away their instruments and headed out into the bar.

Decorating was easy and fun, with balloons, streamers, and pop music blasting through the radio. Takaki ended up in a rather interesting conversation with Yamada, forgetting his specific individual responsibility until Daiki jangled his car keys in his hand and said, rather loudly,

"Takaki, don't you have something to pick up as well?"

"Oh, right." The birthday cake. "The second sweetest thing coming to this party."

"Oh my _god_, shut up!" Inoo yelled at him. Hikaru put on a huffy face, saying

"Seeing people in love makes me want to puke."

Takaki just laughed and stuck his tongue out at his friends, making his way outside. He followed Daiki out of the driveway, then turned the opposite direction, heading to the bakery. The little shop wasn't very far, and by how quickly Takaki was able to get in and out with a decent cake under his arm he had the hope that he might return to the party before Chinen and Daiki.

That hope and his left arm were shattered when a silver SUV ran through a red light. He saw it coming through the intersection and tried to swerve out of the way, but the car clipped his arm and sent his motorcycle spinning. The air rushed from his chest as his ribs hit the handlebars hard, body pitching forward. He had enough time to feel his body slam painfully into the road before the entire world went black.

When Takaki opened his eyes again, just about everything hurt. His head, his skin, his ribs; he squinted around the room. There was a woman--a nurse--checking some sort of equipment. When he turned to look at her she said "Oh, you're awake," and exited.

He was in a hospital, he realized. He vaguely remembered the ambulance ride; the actual crash was there but jumbled, as though it had happened both extremely slowly and all at once. A silver SUV had ran a red light and crashed into the left side of him on his way back to Daiki's with the cake.

The cake.

A doctor came in, sitting next to the bed Takaki was in.

"You hit your head rather hard. I'm going to ask you a few questions. Do you know your name?"

"I need the cake." Takaki knew it was stupid and irrational, that he was in a hospital bed unable to muster enough energy to move any of his limbs, but it was Chinen's birthday, and he was supposed to bring him a birthday cake.

The doctor looked extremely concerned, speaking slowly.

"That is not your name. Your name is Takaki Yuya, and you are twenty-four--"

"I know my name is Takaki Yuya, I know I'm twenty-four years old. I got hit by a car and I need to get a birthday cake for my boyfriend."

The doctor raised an eyebrow, as though still unsure whether or not Takaki was mentally stable. He decided to let it slide.

"Please stay here and rest. You will be staying here overnight to insure that no permanent damage has been done to your brain. Your emergency contact is being called now."

Takaki wasn't sure how long he laid there, not moving--his head hurt, his arms and legs were so heavy that he was sure he couldn't lift them if he tried--and eventually he heard the slapping of footfalls down the hallway outside his hospital room, headed his way. Somehow he knew exactly who it was.

"Hey." Takaki said in greeting as the door opened.

"What the hell?! How could you...? On my birthday! " Chinen wasn't pleased, his voice high pitched and strained, walking up to Takaki’s bedside with quick steps. His hands were curled into fists and for a moment Takaki thought Chinen would hit him. He wouldn't mind if he did, because seeing the tears that were all over Chinen's face made a horrible guilt course through his body. Instead, Chinen's hands dropped limply to his sides. "I thought..."

He began to cry in earnest, head down, biting his lip harshly. Takaki reached over, grabbing Chinen's hand. The comforting gesture made Chinen frown at him.

"You idiot." He said, sniffing and rubbing his eyes. If Takaki had the energy to laugh, he would have.

"I was waiting for you to say that."

"Don't you _ever _do this again, because I love you too much to survive another phone call like that."

_I love you too much. _The words rang in Takaki's chest, and he had to confirm them, make sure they were real, asking,

"You love me?"

Chinen's cheeks were coloring a light pink as he looked at his feet.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure I do."

"Good." Takaki pulled Chinen closer, wanting to get as close to him as possible. "Because I'm pretty sure I love you too."

Chinen clutched at his fingers at the words, kissing him with an amazing amount of affection. Takaki couldn't tell if it was Chinen's lips or the head injury that was making him dizzy, pulling back and laying his head back on his pillows.

"That can't be good for my concussion."

"Wow, you look pretty terrible."

A glance to the door revealed Daiki, Hikaru, and Inoo, all of them eventually streaming into the room.

"What happened to you?" Hikaru asked. Takaki explained the collision, pointing to each area of injury as he said it. It wasn't a very long list--broken arm, concussion, rib bruising and road burn--ending sheepishly with

"I also, um... Lost the cake somehow."

"You had one job. One!" Inoo protested, Takaki apologizing with a sigh.

"Well, at least you can never give Chinen a worse birthday present." Yuto pointed out. That was true, Takaki saying,

"I promise not to get hit by a car on your birthday every again."

"Good." Chinen answered. Inoo looked slightly put out.

"It's great that you're alive and everything, but this kind of ruins the party plans, doesn't it?" He asked. That was also true; Takaki wasn't going to be able to go anywhere for the next twenty-four hours.

"I have to stay here overnight so they can make sure my concussion isn't anything too bad. I accidentally told a doctor my name was 'I need the cake' when I came to, so they're a bit worried."

The room laughed at that, slightly incredulous looks on their faces.

"Would they let me stay here with you?" Chinen asked him. Chinen wanted to stay the night in a hospital room on his birthday?

"I hope so." Takaki answered. Hikaru raised an eyebrow, saying hypocritically,

"Hospital sleepover. Romantic."

"Oh shut up." Everyone knew he would do the same, and even more, in a heartbeat if it was Yabu instead of Takaki himself. They talked for a while, having a small, rather watered-down version of the birthday party there, less the presents and obviously, the cake. Takaki tried to keep up with the conversation but it proved slightly difficult, his brain still a bit stunned by the crash.

"It's been fun watching your delayed reactions to questions," Inoo said with a yawn, getting to his feet. "But it's time for me to eat dinner."

"Hey, don't make fun of my brain injury!"

The teasing was lighthearted, and once everyone hugged him and wished him well, they slowly left the room until it was just Ryutaro there, standing in the doorway. He hadn't given Takaki a hug, but Takaki hadn't expected him to.

"Hey, listen..." The teen sounded and looked awkward, staring around the room before finally meeting Takaki's eyes. "I'm glad that you're okay. You know, that you didn't die or anything."

The words were surprising, and Takaki couldn't help but feel happy and victorious. He had managed, finally, to win over Chinen's best friend.

"Thanks."

Nodding slightly to himself, Ryutaro left.

Though the acquisition of the injury had been rather terrible, Takaki enjoyed the recovery process immensely. Mostly because he could ask Chinen to do nearly anything for him, and the younger man couldn't say no. He didn't like being stranded alone at home though, due to his lack of a vehicle, so when the band didn't have rehearsal and Takaki couldn't convince anyone to do something with him, he tried to be a little helpful around the house. It was hard to do just about anything with only one arm though, so most of the time Takaki found himself laying on the floor and singing as loudly as he could until Chinen got home.

The year that passed wasn't dull or slow for anyone. Yabu had wanted to tie the knot with Hikaru as soon as he graduated, so a momentous amount of wedding planning began for them. The wedding ended up rather lovely, the two moving out of their dingy little apartment and eventually getting a cute dog named Mai. Inoo and Daiki moved into Daiki's apartment, an event that really, while important, wasn't quite as paramount as it sounded, considering that Inoo was there pretty much all the time anyway. They were still as sickeningly in love as they had been when Inoo first confessed, if not more so, and really, it was wonderful.

Yuto, on the other hand, was having a bit harder of a time. While he still looked at Yamada like he was some sort of amazing, ethereal creature, the problem was that he just didn't get to look at Yamada in person quite as often anymore. The shorter man's dance talent had been recognized, and he was often out working, being a backup dancer for any group that asked. It seemed like incredibly hard work, and while Takaki was rather jealous when he would say what famous people he got to meet, balance felt a bit closer to normal when Yamada would come back for a couple of weeks.

Takaki came to realize, as time went by, that he knew next to nothing about Keito and Ryutaro's relationship. They seemed quite happy, so Takaki didn't mind, but it was something that bothered Chinen quite a bit.

_Chinen_. Chinen was incredible. Just being with him made Takaki happier than he had been his entire life. Sure, they would fight--some days went by when they were yelling at each other more often than not--but since it was with Chinen, none of that seemed to matter. After their one year anniversary Takaki found himself walking into a jewelry shop. He hadn't meant to walk out of the store with an engagement ring, but he had known immediately when he saw the beautiful band of metal and stone that he wanted to put a ring on Chinen's finger, and he wanted to do it soon.

He wanted his friends to be there when he proposed, knowing full well that it was, in large part, thanks to them that anything had happened between him and Chinen at all. The closest important date that it wouldn't be weird to have everyone gathered was Chinen's birthday, and once Takaki had that figured out, he called his friends. They were all on board and excited with the news, though Hikaru did bring up an important question.

"Takaki, this is fantastic and all, but don't you think it could be a little soon?"

"Just because it took you _ten years_..." Takaki retorted. Hikaru did have a point though. They had only been together for a year; was engagement a bit of a stretch? Yabu and Hikaru had gotten together when they were fourteen and fifteen though, he reasoned. One year in middle school relationship time was like a month in adult time. Right?

Now filled with nerves and doubt, Takaki could barely contain himself by the time Chinen's birthday rolled around. He just sat on the couch of Hikaru and Yabu's apartment as everyone else set up the decorations. They had taken the necessary precautions this time, making the cake instead of sending anyone out to get it. The ring box in Takaki's pocket felt like a load of rocks, his stomach twisting in a mixture of anxiety and excitement.

Chinen arrived, and they showered him cake and affection. Takaki felt he was acting as normal as he could under the circumstances, but Chinen seemed to notice something was up.

"Why does everyone keep looking at me?"

"They're happy." Takaki answered with a shrug. "It's your birthday."

He wasn't sure that Chinen believed him, but that didn't really matter; the presents had been opened, and now it was Takaki's turn.

"Hey! You didn't get me anything!" Chinen exclaimed, looking over the gifts he had received. That was his cue.

"I... I actually do have something for you." Takaki was almost positive that the cake he had just eaten was going to make another appearance. "Come here."

Chinen was a bit confused but complied, making his way up to Takaki in the center of the room. Everyone else had gotten the hint already, backing away from Takaki and watching, and oh god, oh god...

"So? What's my present?"

"I have something to tell you first."

Takaki had tried to come up with a romantic, amazing proposal, but after sitting down for two hours and coming out of it with a blank piece of paper and a headache, he decided against it. None of the "I knew as soon as I saw you" type of clichés fit. Besides, the idea of stuttering out something rehearsed didn't much appeal to him. So he geared himself up to start speaking, about to open his mouth when from a corner of the room, peeking out from between his fingers, Inoo said,

"Oh my god."

Takaki found it rather appropriate to glare at him, Chinen now very unsure of what was going on, sending Takaki a look of confusion, waiting for an explanation. Takaki decided that now was as good of a time as any to begin.

"As everyone is aware, I don't know much. I don't know how to do the math problems you can, I don't know how to read as much kanji as you can, and I don't know how to cook." After he begun speaking, everything was easier. He was ready and excited to ask, pulling his hand from his pocket, the ring box inside it. It wasn't until he began to kneel that Chinen's eyes went wide, and when he popped the box open, Chinen took in a quick gasp of air, looking at him in a sort of disbelief.

"I don't know if this is too soon, or if you'll want to say yes. I do know, however, that I want nothing more than to marry you, and if you do say yes I will do my very best to make you as happy as I possibly can. Chinen Yuri, will you marry me?"

A huge smile was lighting up Chinen's face, Takaki's heart soaring in his chest.

"You didn’t know if I would say yes?" Chinen asked, as though it was a dumb statement. "We're already married!"

"Is that another yes?" Takaki asked.

"Of course." Chinen said, ducking his head into a tiny nod. "Of course it is; yes, yes, yes."

So many emotions coursed through him, but the dominant one was joy, pure joy, and he scooped the young man up into his arms. Takaki knew without a doubt, as he kissed his new fiancé, that this arranged marriage was the best decision he had never made.


End file.
